Ayatollah Ali Khamenei replaced Iran's Revolutionary Guards

"The Supreme Leader has appointed Salami as new commander-in-chief of the Guard, replacing Mohammad Ali Jafari.", reported the media.

General Jafari has held this position since September 2007 and will be replaced by Brigadier General Hossein Salami, 58 years old.

"Given his abilities and his significant experience in various revolutionary responsibilities (…), I promote him to the rank of Major General and Commander-in-Chief of the Guardians of the Revolution," Khamenei's statement said.

Salami, who served as deputy chief of the body for nine years, is a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). He had also led the corps air force before becoming the second in command.

The confusion was caused by "the need for a change in the direction of Sepah (the name of the Farsi guards)" requested by Jafari himself, according to the chef.

Born in 1957 and specialized in architecture prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Jafari became a member of the Guard in 1981 and was promoted to the head of the body in 2007.

Quoted by the ultraconservative news agency Fars, Brigadier General Salami advised the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in October, "practice swimming in the Mediterranean because soon you will have no choice but to flee to the sea".

He also said that day that Israel could be destroyed by the Lebanese ally of Iran, the terrorist group Hezbollah.. "They are not to the point of posing a threat to us, Hezbollah is enough to destroy them," Fars quoted him as saying.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), formed shortly after the Islamic revolution of 1979, estimates that the guards have about 125,000 soldiers; they respond to Khamenei and have their own land, naval and air forces.

Working in parallel with the regular army, the body's mission is to "protect the (Islamic) revolution and its achievements", "to realize the sacred ideals and spread the law of the law of God".

On April 8, the President of the United States, Donald Trump has named the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization, in an unprecedented step that provoked the Iranian condemnation. The designation came into effect on April 15.

Tehran responded a few days later by designating the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) as a terrorist organization and the government of that country as a sponsor of terrorism.