Iran Press Service

Mr. Ja’fari had participated in the talks between Iran and the IAEA and the Tehran -Washington negotiations

Important correction: In our dispatch of first of September about the nomination of general Ja'fari as the new Commander of the Revolutionary Guards, we mistakingly reported that General Mohammad Ali Ja'fari "was also deputy to the Secretary of the Supreme Council on National Security and as such, he took part in Iran-IAEA talks on nuclear activities and with the Americans on Iraq".
IPS apologise for the mistake, that was also made by other major news services and commentators, a mistake quickly observed and announced by the official Iranian news agency IRNA, correcting that the SCNS,s deputy Secretary is Mr. Mohammad Ja'fari, not Mohammad Ali (Aziz) Ja'afari.

First of Sept. (IPS) In the most important changes at Iranian Armed Forces, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’I, the Leader and supreme Commander of all Iranian Armed Forces named on Saturday first of September General Mohammad Ali Ja’fari as the new Commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guards, in place of General Yahya Rahim Safavi, according to Iranian news agencies.

No reason was given for the very important change at the highest level of the 250.000 strong Guards, but some informed sources said Rahim Safavi might have been changed because of his relative “mildness” compared to some other hard line officer, including General Ja’fari.

The new Revolutionary Guards Commander is among the high raking officers who, immediately after the student uprising of August 1999, wrote an open letter to the ten Iranian president, Hojjatoleslam Mohamd Khatami, warning him that “we feel the situation become dangerous, if you don’t act firm action, we think that we could not tolerate anymore”.

The unprecedented move was said by highly informed sources to have been “inspired and authorized” by Mr. Khameneh’i, who had also directed the Guards and all other suppression forces to “crush” the upraising.

Head of the Pasdaran’s (Revolutionary Guards) Strategic Centre he created two years ago on proposition of the Leader,Ja’fari, -- promoted as four stars General by Mr. Khameneh’i, -- was Commander of the Guard’s Land Forces.

Foreign Affairs Ministry official spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseyni said in his weekly press briefing that there was no special reason for the changes at the top of the Pasdaran, describing it as "a routine change in personnel which is usual over time".

"The changes and decrees the leader issues come at regular intervals and then a decision is made on the successor," he told reporters.

Referring to Safavi's new post, Hosseini added: "The leader's decree for General Rahim Safavi shows his success".
Genral Rahim Safavi, appointed as the Leader’s Special Adviser for Armed Forces Affairs had been placed at the command of the Revolutionary Guards almost ten years ago, on 10 September 1997, in place of Mohsen Reza’i, who became Secretary of the Expediency Council, under the chairmanship of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

The change takes place at a time that Western powers, mostly the United States and France are increasing their pressures on Iran over Tehran’s controversial nuclear programmes. ENDS RAHIM SAFAVI REPLACED 1908