Ahmad Vahidi

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Top
Ahmad Vahidi
Minister of Defence
Incumbent
Assumed office
August 9, 2009
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Preceded by Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar
Deputy Minister of Defence
In office
August 9, 2005 – August 9, 2009
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Preceded by Ali Reza Asghari
Succeeded by Asadollah Emami
Personal details
Born (1947-06-28) 28 June 1947 (age 64)
Shiraz, Iran
Nationality Iranian
Religion Shia Islam
Military service
Service/branch Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution
Years of service 1980–[1]
Rank General
Unit Quds Force[2]

Ahmad Vahidi (Persian: احمد وحیدی‎, born 28 June 1947) is an Iranian politician and former commander of the Revolutionary Guards.[1] He is the current Minister of Defense of Iran, having held the post since August 9, 2009.

Contents

Early life

He was born on June 28, 1947, in Mashhad. In 1980 he joined the Quds Force, a unit of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution that responsible for operations outside of Iran. His real name is Ahmad Shah Cheraghi (his nickname is Vahid).[citation needed] He was born in Shiraz.

Controversies

He is wanted by Interpol for his alleged participation in the bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on July 18, 1994, in which 85 people died. He is one of five Iranians sought in the bombing.[3] Iran denies that it was involved.[4]

In June 2011 Bolivia apologized to Argentina for Ahmad Vahidi visiting the country, and announced that he would be leaving Bolivia immediately.[5]

In June 2010 Vahidi was blacklisted by the U.S Government, a measure which is aimed at freezing the assets of proliferators of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their supporters thereby isolating them from the U.S. financial and commercial systems.[6]

Political career

Vahidi was appointed as Deputy Minister of Defense in 2005 after Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar became Minister of Defense. He was in office until 2009. In August 2009 he was designated Minister of Defense by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and on August 9, 2009, the Majlis endorsed Vahidi as Minister of Defense with vote of 227 of 56.[7] He received 79.3% of the votes of the Member of Parliaments.

References

Political offices
Preceded by
Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar
Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics
2009–present
Succeeded by
Incumbent



Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

Copyrights: