Iran’s secretive Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) chief emerged for the first time in months as he mourned alongside the casket of the assassinated former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Gen. Ahmad Vahidi – who has been sanctioned by the US and has alleged ties to terrorism abroad – was seen yesterday, Thursday, with his hands on Khamenei’s coffin as Tehran prepared to hold the days-long funeral for the late Supreme Leader, according to photos published online by Iranian state media.
He had not been seen publicly since 8 February this year — three weeks before Khamenei and several IRGC officials, including Vahidi’s predecessor, Mohammad Pakpour, were killed on 28 February, the first day of Operation Epic Fury.
Vahidi broke cover when he attended the meeting for Khamenei’s funeral as well as a small service before Iran begins its 40 days of national mourning tomorrow, Saturday, reports the New York Post.
Behind the scenes, Vahidi, who is wanted by Interpol over the 1994 bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, has been a key player crafting the Iran’s hardline response toward ending the four-month-old conflict, the newspaper added.
In May, he claimed Iran had emerged victorious following the “terrorist attack of the Zionist-American enemy” and said Washington had turned to a cease-fire “in humiliation,” according to the semi-official Tasnim News Agency.
“Any renewed aggression by the enemy will be met with a devastating and hellish response on regional and trans-regional scales,” he reportedly stated.
Vahidi, who succeeded Pakpour as head of the IRGC, is said to be part of a small clique advising the severely injured Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
“He is influential but [he is] part of a system,” Ali Vaez, the Iran Project Director at the International Crisis Group, told CNN.
“Decisions are made in a consensual manner and undoubtedly Vahidi has a very loud voice in the room.”
“You cannot agree on something without passing him,” Danny Citrinowicz, the ex-head of the Iran branch of Israel’s military intelligence, told CNN.
Vahidi, 67, joined the IRGC after the 1979 Revolution before becoming Commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force in the late 1980s, building up Iran’s influence across the Middle East before handing the reins to terror mastermind, the now-late Qasem Soleimani.
He and Soleimani have often been credited with laying the groundwork for Iran’s terror proxies to bloom abroad, including the Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon.
Vahidi was among nine top Hezbollah and Iranian officials accused of helping orchestrate the bombing of the Jewish community center – that killed 85 people and injured over 300.
It marked the deadliest antisemitic attack in the Western Hemisphere since World War 2.
Interpol issued a red notice against Vahidi, urging law enforcement entities around the world to find and arrest him, making the IRGC Commander an internationally wanted terrorist.
Along with the infamous 1994 bombing, Argentine investigators have linked Vahidi to the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires.
US investigators also suspect Vahidi helped organize the 1996 Khobar Tower bombing in Saudi Arabia, which saw 19 service members killed.
Vahidi was also hit by sanctions in the US for his links to Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.
He faced a second wave of sanctions in 2022 after Iran’s brutal crackdown on protesters over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman arrested by police and allegedly brutally beaten to death for not wearing a hijab (head covering) in accordance with government standards.
The European Union also hit Vahidi with sanctions in 2022 for the regime’s use of live ammunition in the protests, which left nearly 500 people dead, according to human rights groups.
“He is a wanted man,” Citrinowicz said. “He’s a guy to be reckoned with.”
*PHOTO CAPTION: Vahidi (facing camera) mourns by the casket of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
