Abdolrahim Mousavi

Some Lesser Known Facts About Abdolrahim Mousavi

• Abdolrahim Mousavi joined the Iranian army in 1979.

• During the 1980s, he served in the army’s artillery unit during the Iran-Iraq War.

• Abdolrahim Mousavi actively participated in various battlefronts, including the western region of Kurdistan with the 28th Kurdistan Division.

• He also served on the southwestern front in Khuzestan province with the 33rd Artillery Group of the Ground Forces.

• Abdolrahim Mousavi took part in many military operations during the Iran-Iraq War, including Valfajr 4, Valfajr 9, Beit al-Moqaddas 5, Qader, and Nasr.

• He is known as a war veteran.

• From 1999 to 2005, Abdolrahim Mousavi served as the Chief of Joint Staff of the Army.

• From 2008 to 2016, he served as the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army.

• From 2016 to 2017, Abdolrahim Mousavi was the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces.

• In 2017, he was appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army.

• In May 2019, Abdolrahim Mousavi began serving as the Commander of the Khatam al-Anbia Air Defence Base.

  

• He has served as the Commander of Imam Ali Officers’ University, where he trained future military officers of Iran.

• Abdolrahim Mousavi led the Army’s Northeast Operational Base and managed important operations in that region.

• He also worked as the Deputy for Training and the Deputy for Planning and Programs in the Army Ground Forces.

• Reportedly, during these roles, Abdolrahim Mousavi improved the army’s readiness and strategy, and then, he was made the Head of Operations for the Army.

  

• Later, he was appointed as the Director of the Army Strategic Studies Centre, where he focused on research and military policy planning.

• In 2022, Abdolrahim Mousavi was involved in the Iranian Army’s violent crackdown on the Mahsa Amini protests.

• He called these protests “riots” and said that they were planned by Iran’s enemies. He saw them as a national security threat.

• Abdolrahim Mousavi has been sanctioned by the US, European Union, United Kingdom, and Australia.

• In 2023, the US sanctioned him for human rights abuses. The order blocked all his property and assets under US control or held by US persons.

• The European Union also sanctioned him for various human rights violations in Iran.

• On 13 June 2025, after the death of Mohammad Bagheri in Israeli airstrikes, Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei appointed Mousavi as the new Chief of General Staff.