On Sunday, the Iranian Parliament has approved 16 Cabinet members nominated by recently re-elected President Hassan Rouhani, including the defence minister.
Brigadier General Amir Hatami, who replaces Husein Dehqan, previously served as the head of the Army’s international relations office, as well as a deputy in the armed forces general staff, is one of the youngest senior officers of the Artesh (Army, in Farsi).
Hatami is the first minister of defense with army background in more than two decades, an office held by Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps since 1989.
He has served as a senior officer in the intelligence branch of the Artesh while he also has had ample experience as a commander of the Iranian Army in the north and northwestern regions where a threat from Kurdish militants remains relatively high. Brigadier General Hatami served in the military during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). This means that he’s also experienced in the both irregular and conventional warfare.
