Summary
- Iran’s parliament approved Mehrdad Akhlaghi as defense minister on Sunday, and he promptly warned the United States of “enormous damage” if it attacks. In a vote held by video link, 237 of the 277 lawmakers who voted backed Akhlaghi, 15 opposed him and nobody abstained.
- Mehrdad Akhlaghi’s warning“People can rest assured that they will most likely not dare to attack us,” Akhlaghi told reporters after the vote.
- Before the vote, he told lawmakers that Iran’s reply to a new attack would be “surprising and extensive.”On the huge GBU-43/B bomb that people call the Mother of All Bombs, Akhlaghi said Iran had prepared countermeasures.
Iran’s parliament approved Mehrdad Akhlaghi as defense minister on Sunday, and he promptly warned the United States of “enormous damage” if it attacks.
In a vote held by video link, 237 of the 277 lawmakers who voted backed Akhlaghi, 15 opposed him and nobody abstained.
His predecessor, Aziz Nasirzadeh, died on February 28, the day the war began, when American and Israeli forces hit a leadership compound. Former supreme leader Ali Khamenei and senior commanders also died in that attack. Majid Ebn al-Reza had run the ministry on an acting basis since then.
Mehrdad Akhlaghi’s warning
“People can rest assured that they will most likely not dare to attack us,” Akhlaghi told reporters after the vote. If they did, he said, they and the region would suffer.
He extended the warning to Washington’s regional allies, Israel among them. Before the vote, he told lawmakers that Iran’s reply to a new attack would be “surprising and extensive.”
On the huge GBU-43/B bomb that people call the Mother of All Bombs, Akhlaghi said Iran had prepared countermeasures.
If President Donald Trump dropped even one bomb, he said, American forces would pay a heavy price. He claimed Iran’s preparations explained why Washington had held back.
Career of the new defense minister
Akhlaghi has no military rank, yet he has served at the defense ministry for 42 years. Since 2013, he has run the Defense Industries Organization, which makes weapons for the state.
He earlier led the Aerospace Industries Organization. The United Nations sanctioned him in 2007 over alleged ties to nuclear or ballistic missile work.
Mehrdad Akhlaghi said he had sat on an “assassination list” kept by his adversaries for 35 years. He also vowed to strengthen the network of allied groups that Tehran calls the resistance front.
Akhlaghi said he understood he would take responsibility “at a sensitive juncture.”
He added that the job required a view of the whole environment, an understanding of developments and readiness for different futures.
Priorities for the ministry
He told lawmakers the ministry would expand arms production across Iran’s industrial network and strengthen research. It would also reorganize to handle changing security threats.
“Defending the country requires an accurate understanding of the environment,” he said before the vote.
His appointment ends months of interim leadership, nearly eight months after the first US-Israeli strikes sparked the conflict. Lawmakers heard his proposed plans, plus arguments from supporters and opponents, before they voted. State television said the assembly backed him as minister of defense and armed forces logistics.
The ministry now faces pressure to rebuild after heavy losses. Akhlaghi will oversee the production and procurement system behind Iran’s forces.
That warning, which also covered Israel and other regional allies, marks a defiant start for Mehrdad Akhlaghi, who spent decades inside the weapons industry before taking political charge of it. The vote shows the confidence lawmakers place in him.
Still, the new minister gave no timetable or details on what Iran would do in response to an attack. He placed responsibility for any wider fallout from fresh military action on Washington and its allies.
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