Iran Appoints IRGC-Linked Official As Iraq Envoy
Iran has appointed a man with apparent links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) intelligence organization as new ambassador to neighboring Iraq.
Iran has appointed a man with apparent links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) intelligence organization as new ambassador to neighboring Iraq.
Foreign Ministry spokesman announced the appointment of Mohammad Kazem (Hossein) Al-e Sadeq during his weekly press conference on Monday.
The spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said the ambassador-designate would be inaugurated soon. He did not provide further details.
Little is known about Al-e Sadeq, who has served as a deputy to the incumbent ambassador to Baghdad, Iraj Masjedi, a former senior IRGC commander who assumed office in 2017.
Al-e Sadeq speaks Arabic and is the younger brother of renowned Iraqi-Iranian poet and writer Mohammed Reza Al-e Sadeq -- also known as Mohammed Reza bin Muhammad bin Sadeq al-Najafi. The family seems to have dual Iraq-Iranian roots, which is not uncommon among Shiites. Many Iranians settled in Iraq decades ago, either as clerics or traders.
He is reportedly a former member of the board of director of the Sepas Veterans Association, which is apparently a nongovernmental organization that commemorates IRGC martyrs, particularly those who held positions in the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence organization.
The moto of the organisation’s Instagram page is “defending Islam does not end with defending the homeland”, suggesting that its members are supporters of IRGC overseas operations.
Masjedi, the outgoing ambassador to Baghdad, has served as a senior member of the IRGC’s extraterritorial Quds Force and as an advisor to Qasem Soleimani, the Quds Force commander who was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020.
