Mehrdad Akhlaghi takes Iran defense post with warn...

Summary

• Iran’s parliament approved Mehrdad Akhlaghi as defense minister on Sunday, and he promptly warned the United States of “enormous damage” if it attacks.
• Mehrdad Akhlaghi’s warning“People can rest assured that they will most likely not dare to attack us,” Akhlaghi told reporters after the vote.
• Before the vote, he told lawmakers that Iran’s reply to a new attack would be “surprising and extensive.”On the huge GBU-43/B bomb that people call the Mother of All Bombs, Akhlaghi said Iran had prepared countermeasures.

AI Generated Summary

Iran’s parliament approved Mehrdad Akhlaghi as defense minister on Sunday, and he promptly warned the United States of “enormous damage” if it attacks.

In a vote held by video link, 237 of the 277 lawmakers who voted backed Akhlaghi, 15 opposed him and nobody abstained.

His predecessor, Aziz Nasirzadeh, died on February 28, the day the war began, when American and Israeli forces hit a leadership compound. Former supreme leader Ali Khamenei and senior commanders also died in that attack. Majid Ebn al-Reza had run the ministry on an acting basis since then.

Mehrdad Akhlaghi’s warning

“People can rest assured that they will most likely not dare to attack us,” Akhlaghi told reporters after the vote. If they did, he said, they and the region would suffer.