TEHRAN — Mehrdad Akhlaqi Ketabchi told Iran’s lawmakers on Sunday that he has been on his enemies’ “assassination list” for 35 years. They then made him the country’s defense minister.
Parliament approved him by 237 votes to 15, with no abstentions, out of 277 votes cast in a session held by video conference, Anadolu Agency reported, citing state broadcaster IRIB. Iran International gave the same figures, which as reported do not sum to 277. He replaces Aziz Nasirzadeh, who was killed in the initial US-Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. Majid Ebn al-Reza had been acting minister since.
Before the vote, Akhlaqi warned that if the United States and Israel attacked again, Iran’s response would be “surprising and extensive,” and that Washington and its allies would bear responsibility for any regional and international consequences. In September a spokesman for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards promised new weapons if the United States attacked again, as TEH reported.
Anadolu says Akhlaqi previously headed Iran’s Aerospace Industries Organization and has been under US sanctions over missile-related activities. Treasury’s July 8, 2008 designation, which spells his name Mehrdada Akhlaghi Ketabachi, says that as head of the Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group (SBIG, spelled Bakeri in the release) he “plays a key role in SBIG’s day-to-day affairs.” The same release called the Aerospace Industries Organization “the overall manager and coordinator of Iran’s missile program.” Iran International reported that the UN Security Council listed him in 2007 as SBIG’s head and that his name returned to the UN sanctions list in September 2025, when earlier sanctions on Iran were re-applied.
President Masoud Pezeshkian, addressing parliament by video, told lawmakers that Akhlaqi had backing across the army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the defense ministry and security institutions, and said he hoped the nominee would “remain alive,” Anadolu reported, citing the semi-official ISNA news agency. Iran’s defense, Pezeshkian said, “is not only missiles” but “the people and the unity and cohesion we have in the country.” Akhlaqi named expanding defense production across Iran’s industrial network, boosting research and restructuring the ministry for current security threats as his priorities.
Iran International’s report on the nomination, published Oct. 5, noted that nominees for the post have traditionally been coordinated with and approved by the supreme leader beforehand, and that officials had not said whether or how Mojtaba Khamenei’s approval was obtained for this one.
