{"id":650196,"date":"2026-10-18T14:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T14:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/650196\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T14:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T14:06:11","slug":"who-is-mehrdad-akhlaghi-irans-new-tech-focused-defence-minister-us-israel-war-on-iran-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/650196\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is Mehrdad Akhlaghi, Iran\u2019s new tech-focused defence minister? | US-Israel war on Iran News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tehran, Iran \u2013 Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi has been appointed Iran\u2019s defence minister at a time when the war with the United States<\/a> is expected to escalate.<\/p>\n

The 68-year-old was approved on Sunday by parliament, which has convened online since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran on February 28, to assume leadership of the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics. In total, 237 lawmakers voted in favour of Akhlaghi\u2019s appointment and 15 against.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

Former Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh was killed along with a large number of other senior figures, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, on the opening day of the war.<\/p>\n

The position was filled temporarily by Majid Ebn-e Reza, who will now become Akhlaghi\u2019s deputy.<\/p>\n

Akhlaghi will be responsible for rebuilding and expanding Iran\u2019s military-industrial infrastructure, which has been heavily targeted by the US and Israel.<\/p>\n

The new minister\u2019s defence plans were approved earlier by senior military authorities, President Masoud Pezeshkian and parliament\u2019s Commission on National Security and Foreign Policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Islamic Republic of Iran will not be the instigator of aggression against any country but will defend the territorial integrity of the country strongly and to the death against any aggression,\u201d Pezeshkian said.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"epa13267846Iranian Zolfaghar missiles are placed in front of a billboard picturing Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei at Baharestan Square in downtown Tehran, Iran [File: EPA]<\/p>\n

The president said Akhlaghi has more than 42 years of experience in the Defence Ministry and related organisations.<\/p>\n

His principal expertise is in ballistic missiles, solid-fuel propulsion, aerospace technology and military-industrial production, according to state media.<\/p>\n

Previously, he served as the head of the Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group, the Aerospace Industries Organization and the Defence Industries Organization. Akhlaghi and these entities are all subject to sanctions by the US. He is also under United Nations sanctions.<\/p>\n

He has been associated with developing several missile types and related weapons-development projects over the past decades, according to Tasnim, a newspaper linked with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),<\/p>\n

Akhlaghi reportedly played a role in expanding the major Sejjil and Zolfaghar<\/a> family of Iranian ballistic missiles as well as precision-guided weapons, such as the Almas missiles and Yasin guided bombs.<\/p>\n

He is also said to have expertise in space launchers, research rockets and infrastructure associated with the Imam Khomeini Space Center in Semnan. These have all been critical elements in Iran\u2019s wars against Israel and the US.<\/p>\n

This month, Iran\u2019s Defence Ministry spokesman, Brigadier General Reza Talaei-Nik, told reporters that Akhlaghi\u2019s nomination reflected Iran\u2019s need to increase the quantity and quality of strategic weapons, particularly missiles and drones.<\/p>\n

\u201cOffensive arms are being actively improved,\u201d the spokesman said.<\/p>\n

The US has repeatedly claimed that it has destroyed most of Iran\u2019s military-industrial capacities, but Tehran has maintained it continues to have considerable offensive and defensive capabilities<\/a> outside the reach of US and Israeli bombs. These weapons have been upgraded based on Iran\u2019s new war experience, it has insisted.<\/p>\n

Akhlaghi told members of parliament this month that he had met with senior military commanders, including the commander-in-chief of the IRGC, Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi, to develop a better understanding of their requirements during and after the war.<\/p>\n

His priorities as defence minister would be faster military-industrial development, air defences, incorporation of emerging technologies using government and private sector firms, improvements in armed-forces welfare and development of international military cooperation, according to reports.<\/p>\n

In his first comments as defence minister on Sunday, Akhlaghi taunted the administration of US President Donald Trump, which this month threatened to use the \u201cmother of all bombs\u201d<\/a> on Iran\u2019s nuclear and energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have made preparations and continue our work with ease of mind,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cThe US president must think of getting his forces out of our region in one piece. If he drops one bomb, he must see how many of his troops he will have to evacuate horizontally.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tehran, Iran \u2013 Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi has been appointed Iran\u2019s defence minister at a time when the war…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,87,46,43,6803,1032,162198,3803],"class_list":["post-650196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-news-analysis","tag-united-states","tag-us-israel-war-on-iran","tag-weapons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}