Barely two days after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) announced the replacement of its hardline intelligence chief, the IRGC quietly replaced the head of the unit protecting Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Ebrahim Jabbari also served for more than a decade as the commander of the IRGC Vali Amr Protection Corps, but was replaced this weekend by IRGC Second Brigadier General Hassan Mashroueifar Amr, IRGC spokesperson Ramezan Sharif announced.
The move, reported Saturday by the semi-official Tasnim News Agency, comes after a series of incidents in the country that have included sabotage, cyberattacks, assassinations and mysterious deaths of IRGC members, nuclear scientists and engineers – some of Iran blamed on Israel.
Intelligence chief Hossein Taeb, who served for more than a decade, was replaced by Brigadier General Mohammad Kazemi, the head of the IRGC Intelligence Protection Unit that focuses on surveillance within the force.
The IRGC-linked Javan newspaper called the appointment of Kazemi, referred to by his nom de guerre Haj Kazem, as “injection of new blood” into SAS to fight against “foreign enemies, their lackeys and mercenaries, and hostile elements [political activists and organizations],” Iran International reported.
Jabbari served as Taeb’s deputy during his tenure as head of the IRGC Basij militia, before he became intelligence chief.
This is a very significant move given the sensitive role of the Vali Amr Unit. Also Jabbari is considered part of the same close knit circle around Mojtaba Khamenei that Taeb was part of. Photo of Ebrahim Jabbari is below. 2/2 pic.twitter.com/3hYAtedHar
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) June 25, 2022
IRGC Chief Hossein Salami awarded Jabbari a certificate of appreciation for his “valuable and hard-working service” but did not indicate whether the military leader would be reassigned to other duties.
