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Iran: Khamenei appointed IRGC commanders to key posts in Supreme National Security Council

Ali KhameneiClerical regime declaring war on international community

NCRI, September 28 – In the past few weeks, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has appointed a number of Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) commanders to key posts in the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), the clerical regime’s highest decision-making body.

SNSC’s secretariat that was previously comprised of advisory committees has been changed to different directorates, making it a decision-making body with vast executive powers.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the head of the SNSC and operates under the Supreme Leader’s complete oversight. Its Secretary, Brig. Gen. Ali Larijani, was the head of the state radio and television network for more than 10 years and personally directed censorship of the news.
In recent weeks, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, Brig. Gen. Seyyed Ali Hosseini-Tash and IRGC commander Seyyed Ali Monfared were appointed as the SNSC’s heads of internal security, strategy and political directorates. IRGC commander Ali Aghamohammadi is the SNSC’s spokesman.

 

Jarafi was the former commander of the Ramadan Garrison, in charge of extraterritorial operations and among the founders of the IRGC’s Qods (Jerusalem) terrorist force. He played a key role in the assassination of Dr. Abdurrahman Qassemlou in Vienna in 1989 and was for a time the IRGC’s counter-intelligence commander. Brig. Gen. Hosseini-Tash was former Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani’s deputy and in charge of weapons of mass destruction and nuclear programs. Monfared is a veteran Guards’ commander and among the founders of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).

 

By making these appointments Khamenei is trying to confront the growing popular uprisings, acquire nuclear weapons as quickly as possible and step up widespread meddling in Iraq. The newly appointed officials all have long records in the suppression of the Iranian people, involvement in the regime’s nuclear and missile programs and export of terrorism.

 

These changes along with the ascension of Ahmadinejad to presidency and his forming of a 21-member cabinet, 13 of whose members are IRGC commanders, are tantamount to a declaration of war by the Supreme Leader to the Iranian people and the international community and underscore the need for the adoption of a decisive policy vis-à-vis threats posed by the regime.

 

SNSC secretary Aghamohammadi told the state-run news agency, IRNA, on September 17, “We have even appraised the worst case scenario (a military attack against us). We have even assessed ways to harm their (Western) interests and we will not take weak steps to this end.”

 

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
September 28, 2005