Iran Appoints New IRGC Commander Who Aims to ‘Annihilate’ Israel

[Valin]

Washington Free Beacon

New commander helped hide nuclear work from world.

Adam Kredo
April 22, 2019

Hossein Salami / Getty Images

Iran has appointed as the next head of its Revolutionary Guards Corps, or IRGC, a veteran fighter who spearheaded a series of policies to develop advanced missiles capable of "annihilating" Israel, an announcement that comes just weeks after the Trump administration designated the entire IRGC as a terrorist entity.

Over the weekend, Iran announced that Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami would be promoted as the next head of the IRGC, replacing Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari.

Salami, during his time in the IRGC and Iranian military leadership, was the architect of a massive buildup in Iran's advanced ballistic missiles, primarily ones that Salami has bragged are capable of "annihilating" Israel. Salami also worked to implement policies that enabled Iran to camouflage its contested nuclear weapons work from international inspectors.

The appointment of Salami is meant to solidify Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's hardline agenda, according to U.S. officials and regional experts, who told the Washington Free Beacon that Tehran has no desire to halt its regional terror operations in hotspots such as Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon.

Salami has built a record of issuing threats of destruction to Israel and was behind a 2016 efforts by the Islamic Republic to boost its missile production in areas such as Lebanon, where they could easily strike the Jewish state.

"Today, more than ever, there is fertile ground—with the grace of God—for the annihilation, the wiping out and the collapse of the Zionist regime," Salami said in 2016.

(Snip)