Hossein Salami

Sardar
Major general

Hossein Salami
Born1960 (age 63–64)
Golpayegan, Imperial State of Iran
Allegiance Iran
Service / branchIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps IRGC
Years of service1981–present
RankMajor general[1]
Commands
Battles / warsIran–Iraq War
Iranian intervention in Iraq
2024 Iran–Israel conflict
Awards Order of Fath (1st class)

Hossein Salami (Persian: حسین سلامی; born 1960) is an Iranian military officer who is the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.[2][3][4] Born in Golpayegan, he joined the IRGC during the Iran–Iraq War, when he was a college student. He rose through the ranks, becoming deputy commander. On 21 April 2019, the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, appointed him as the new Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC, replacing major general Mohammad Ali Jafari.

Salami stands out among the commanders of the IRGC for his use of fiery and aggressive speeches targeting the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia. According to researcher Mehdi Khalaji, he has relied on "innovatively circumventing economic sanctions, developing Iran’s missile programme and maintaining the regime’s defiant regional policy".[5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference reuters was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Iranian Guard commander: Our 'hands remain on the trigger' to attack Israel". The Journalism post. 11 March 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  3. ^ "خبرگزاری فارس - سردار سلامي جانشين فرمانده كل سپاه شد" [Sardar Salami succeeds the commanding officer] (in Persian). Fars News Agency. 4 October 2009. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  4. ^ Gladstone, Rick. "Iran's Supreme Leader Replaces Head of Revolutionary Guards". NYT. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  5. ^ Oweis, Khaled Yacoub (25 June 2019). "Iran's Hossein Salami: A top practitioner of psychological warfare".