Iran's parliament confirms Mehrdad Akhlaghi as its new defence minister

Iran's parliament has approved Mehrdad Akhlaghi as the country's defence minister, ending a period of months in which the post had no permanent occupant. The Times of Israel reported that Iranian state television announced lawmakers had given Akhlaghi a "vote of confidence" as nominee for the ministry of defence and armed forces logistics.

According to The Times of Israel, the man Akhlaghi replaces was killed in February, on the first day of the war, in the initial wave of United States and Israeli strikes that set off the conflict. The vote came nearly eight months after those strikes. Israeli news site Ynet noted in a brief alert that Iran had named a new defence minister after months in which the position went unfilled. The Hebrew-language Telegram channel Abu Ali Express also reported that the Iranian parliament had confirmed the appointment.

Who is the new minister

The reports offer very little biographical detail about Akhlaghi. The Jerusalem Post rendered his surname as Akhlachi in its headline and text, while a photo caption it credited to IRNA, Iran's official state news agency, gave his name in a longer form, Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi. Variations of this kind are common when Persian names are transliterated into English or Hebrew, and they do not necessarily indicate disagreement about the person's identity. None of the reports describe his career, his previous positions, his military background or how he came to be nominated.

How Iranian ministers are confirmed

The body that voted is the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the formal name of Iran's parliament, often called the Majlis. In Iran's system, ministers are nominated by the president and must then win a confidence vote in the assembly before they can take office. The state television wording cited by The Times of Israel follows that formula: lawmakers did not simply hear about the appointment, they voted to approve it.

The ministry Akhlaghi will lead is officially titled the ministry of defence and armed forces logistics. Its remit centres on supply, procurement and the defence industry that equips Iran's forces, which sets it apart from the operational command of the armed forces themselves.

A post left vacant by the war

The appointment is tied directly to the war that began with the US and Israeli strikes in February. According to The Times of Israel, the previous defence minister was among those killed on the opening day. Ynet's alert framed the news chiefly as the end of a long gap, describing the role as having been without a holder for months.

The Jerusalem Post added a detail the other reports did not. It said Akhlaghi replaces Majid Ebn al-Reza, who had stepped into the role on an interim basis after the then defence minister was killed. The Post's text as provided to us breaks off before naming that earlier minister or describing the circumstances in full. Read together, the accounts suggest the ministry was run by a caretaker in the intervening months, while the formal post awaited parliamentary approval of a permanent minister.

Where the reports differ

The main difference between the sources is one of emphasis rather than outright contradiction. The Times of Israel describes Akhlaghi as replacing the minister killed in February. The Jerusalem Post describes him as replacing Majid Ebn al-Reza, the interim office holder. Ynet speaks of months without anyone filling the role, which fits the idea that there was no confirmed minister, though not necessarily that nobody was running the ministry. The two framings can both be accurate if Ebn al-Reza served as acting minister without parliamentary confirmation, but the reports do not spell this out, and we have not resolved it here.

The Jerusalem Post's headline also attributes the predecessor's death to Israel, while The Times of Israel refers to joint US and Israeli strikes. Both describe the same opening phase of the war, from different angles.

What the reports do not say

• The previous minister's name is not given in the material we have; the Jerusalem Post passage ends before stating it.
• None of the reports give the vote tally or say whether the approval was contested in the chamber.
• There is no information on Akhlaghi's background, his prior roles or which president nominated him.
• The reports do not explain why confirmation took nearly eight months, or whether earlier nominees were proposed and rejected.
• No statement from Akhlaghi himself, or from Israeli or US officials reacting to the appointment, appears in the material.
• The reports do not describe what powers the interim office holder exercised or what role, if any, Majid Ebn al-Reza will now take.