Rafsanjani to Head Iran Armed Forces : Khomeini Move Follows Serious Iranian Losses in War With Iraq

In a major shake-up of the military leadership, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini today appointed Parliament Speaker Hashemi Rafsanjani acting commander in chief of Iran’s armed forces, Iran’s official media reported.

The Islamic Republic News Agency, monitored in Nicosia, said the move had been proposed by President Ali Khamenei, who is also chairman of the Supreme Defense Council which determines Iran’s strategy in the war against Iraq.

Khomeini has held the title of commander in chief, but overall strategy has been determined by Khamenei, Rafsanjani, who is Khomeini’s representative on the Supreme Defense Council, and other leaders.

Khomeini’s decision followed two serious Iranian defeats in the 7 1/2-year-old Iran-Iraq War and major gains by radicals and militants in two-stage parliamentary elections in April and May that strengthened Rafsanjani.

Khomeini’s move clearly strengthens Rafsanjani’s position in the government and indicates that Khamenei apparently has been edged out.

A major shake-up in Iran’s military command had been expected since the Iraqi army pushed the Iranians out of their important bridgehead east of Iraq’s southern port city of Basra in a lightning assault on May 25.

The Iraqis recaptured the Faw peninsula, south of Basra, in a two-day assault April 16-18, driving the Iranians back across the Shatt al Arab waterway two years after they seized the dusty finger of land.

Those defeats cost the Iranians their main footholds on Iraqi soil and were seen as major military setbacks at a time of political uncertainty in Tehran and apparent economic problems.

After the loss of Faw, Khomeini replaced the armed forces chief of staff, Brig. Gen. Ismael Sohrabi, with a little-known officer, Col. Ali Shahbazi, and promoted him to brigadier general.

Western military analysts said at the time that “more heads are expected to roll.”