Parliament ends months of interim leadership
Iranian lawmakers voted on Sunday to confirm Mehrdad Akhlaqi Ketabchi as the country's defence minister, according to Reuters. The decision closes a stretch of months in which the ministry was run on a caretaker basis, and it hands control of Iran's defence manufacturing and purchasing machinery to a man with long experience inside the sector.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5][S6][S7]
Akhlaqi takes over from Majid Ebn al-Reza, who had been running the ministry in an interim role. The previous defence minister, Aziz Nasirzadeh, was killed in February by strikes attributed to the United States and Israel, which left the post vacant until Sunday's vote.[S1]
A career inside Iran's missile and aerospace sector
Over several decades Akhlaqi has built his career within Iran's defence industry, including senior positions in its aerospace and missile programmes. His record in that field has drawn sanctions from both Washington and the European Union, meaning the man now overseeing Iranian defence production is himself a designated figure in the West.[S1]
Pledges to rebuild and a warning to Washington
In the programme he laid out for legislators, Akhlaqi committed to restoring the country's military-industrial infrastructure, speeding up work on defence technologies and widening ties with private companies. He also addressed the prospect of fresh American military action, saying Tehran had already taken the steps needed to answer any use of the GBU-43/B, the heaviest non-nuclear bomb in the US inventory.[S1]
His remarks followed a CNN report this week that American planners have drawn up options that could involve that weapon against Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites, should President Donald Trump order combat operations to resume. Akhlaqi also directed a message at Trump about US forces stationed in the region, warning of consequences if a single bomb were dropped.[S1]
