KHAMENEI APPOINTS NEW IRGC GROUND FORCES COMMANDER

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appointed Brigadier General Mohammad Karami as the new commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ground forces on Thursday.

Karami was previously the commander of the IRGC Quds Headquarters in southeastern Iran and the governor of Sistan and Baluchistan province during the nationwide protests of 2022 - a period marked by severe crackdowns on demonstrators in the province.

The appointment comes after Mohammad Pakpour, the former ground forces commander, was promoted to commander-in-chief of the IRGC following the death of Mohammad Salami on the first day of Israel’s military attack.

Karami is among the Islamic Republic’s military commanders who have been targeted by international sanctions in recent years.

The United States sanctioned him in 2021, while Canada and the European Union imposed sanctions in 2022 for “serious human rights violations” and participation in suppressing the protests of November 2019 and 2022.