After more than four decades working behind the scenes to develop Iran’s missile program, Mehrdad Akhlaqi Ketabchi has taken charge of the Defense Ministry as Tehran seeks to rebuild military capabilities damaged during its war with the United States and Israel and gird for further conflict.
Ketabchi is considered one of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ most prominent generals, despite never having led troops on the battlefield. For years, his work remained shrouded in secrecy as he helped establish and advance Iran’s ballistic missile and solid-fuel rocket programs.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.
Ketabchi, who is sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department, worked closely with Gen. Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, known as the father of Iran’s missile program, who was killed in an unexplained explosion in 2011.
Iranian opposition activists told MBN that Ketabchi was appointed defense minister with specific objectives to sideline opponents of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and accelerate ballistic missile production.
The activists, who monitor the Revolutionary Guard’s activities and political changes inside Iran, say Ketabchi’s selection reflects a strategy by the supreme leader and the Guard’s leadership to restructure the armed forces by putting Guard veterans in top positions.
The new defense minister took office as the Revolutionary Guard tightened its grip on the General Staff of the Armed Forces, led by Army Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi until he was killed in an airstrike in February.
Ketabchi’s appointment signals the Revolutionary Guard’s preparations for new rounds of military confrontation, Iranian opposition activist Jamil Ahmadi told MBN.
Three security officials from Iranian Kurdish opposition parties told MBN that Ketabchi worked with Moghaddam in the 1980s to establish Hezbollah’s missile force in Lebanon.
After Moghaddam’s death, Ketabchi oversaw the establishment of missile and drone units for Iraqi militias and Yemen’s Houthi movement, the officials said, suggesting that he has strong ties to the leaders of those Iran-backed groups.
MBN could not independently verify these accounts. Iranian authorities, meanwhile, have disclosed little about Ketabchi’s responsibilities beyond his official positions.
Like the IRGC, the United States has designated the Houthis and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations.
Iranian opposition politician Mehdi Oghabayi told MBN that Ketabchi’s appointment as defense minister in President Masoud Pezeshkian’s government underscores rebuilding Iran’s missile capabilities as the priority, while the nuclear file remains under review.
He pointed in particular to Ketabchi’s previous roles overseeing the Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group and heading the Aerospace Industries Organization, both of which are tied to the Defense Ministry, and specialize in developing and producing solid-fuel ballistic missiles.
The group, subject to U.S. Treasury Department sanctions since 2018, produced Fateh-110 ballistic missiles, the Sejjil and Zolfaghar missile series, and the Fajr surface-to-surface missile system.
Oghabayi identified three objectives behind Ketabchi’s appointment: Rebuilding Iran’s missile capabilities; using any period of negotiations with the United States to buy time and repair military infrastructure; and preserving dual-use capabilities that can serve civilian or military purposes and be mobilized if needed in the future.
An Oct. 17 report by the IRGC-affiliated Mehr News Agency said Ketabchi would focus on drawing lessons from recent military confrontations to introduce “lasting changes.” These would include sustaining military production under bombardment, protecting infrastructure and rapidly replenishing equipment, it said.
According to the report, Ketabchi set a six-month deadline for completing and testing some new technology projects in the military-industrial sector.
Iranian political researcher Hossein Daei al-Islam told MBN that the Iranian government may first seek to replenish depleted stockpiles and restore lost production capacity before moving on to efforts to improve missile accuracy, accelerate manufacturing and strengthen capabilities to penetrate air defenses.
Adapted and translated from the original Arabic.
