Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabachi, the veteran defence-industry executive has been nominated by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian as defence minister.
Ketabachi has spent decades in the country's missile and aerospace establishment and has been named in international sanctions listings for those roles.
The Nomination
Iran's state news agency IRNA reported that Pezeshkian submitted the nomination to Parliament for a confidence vote.
Sasan Valizadeh, an adviser to the president's parliamentary affairs deputy, announced it on Monday, saying it followed Article 133 of the Constitution. Parliament is expected to review Akhlaghi's proposed plans in the relevant committee before voting.
If approved, he will succeed Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh, who IRNA said was killed in a US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28.
Career In Defence Industry
The outlet describes Akhlaghi as a senior Defence Ministry official who previously headed the Aerospace Industries Organization (AIO).
Iran View 24 reported that then-Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan appointed him chief executive of the AIO in 2014, and that his career rose from technical and lower-level posts to senior management.
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The outlet places him among a generation of Iranian managers who built the country's defence industry under heavy international sanctions.
Sanctions Record
The same record has drawn Western scrutiny. US Treasury records identify him as the head of the Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group (SBIG), a body linked to Iran's missile programme, and show he was designated in 2008 under an executive order targeting weapons proliferation.
A later Treasury action designated him as AIO director. According to the Iran Watch research project, the UN Security Council listed him in March 2007 for involvement in the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems, and he was removed in October 2023 when targeted UN sanctions expired.
Iran International reported that his name returned to UN lists when earlier measures were reimposed in September 2025.
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It added that the US sanctioned him in 2020 as director of the Defence Industries Organisation over conventional arms-related activities.
The EU has also sanctioned him over his role at SBIG, Al Jazeera reported.
Tehran's View
Iranian media noted that such designations reflect the policy positions of the governments imposing them and are distinct from independently established findings.
Tehran views its defence and aerospace organisations as a domestic base built under pressure and essential to its security and self-reliance.
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