Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — Iran has replaced its defense minister.

Officials said President Hassan Rowhani has dismissed Defense Minister
Ahmed Vahidi.

The officials said Vahidi was replaced by Brig. Gen. Hussein Dehghan in a decision that would require parliamentary approval.

Dehghan, 56, was identified as a veteran of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He was said to have been a founding member of IRGC in 1979 and three years later became commander of the force in the Teheran region. He served twice as deputy defense minister.

A leading Israeli analyst, Shimon Shapira, said Dehghan built the IRGC presence in Lebanon in the 1980s. Shapira, a retired Israeli intelligence officer, said Dehghan was believed responsible for the attacks on the Israeli and U.S. military headquarters around Beirut in 1983.

“The order to carry out the attacks was transmitted, and the funding and
operational training provided, with the help of the Revolutionary Guard in
Lebanon under the command of Hussein Dehghan,” Shapira, now a senior
research associate at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, said.

  Ahmed Vahidi, Brig. Gen. Hussein Dehghan, Hassan Rowhani, New Iran president replaces defense minister