Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday nominated Mehrdad Akhlaghi as his pick to head the defence ministry, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.Akhlaghi most recently held a senior executive post within the ministry itself, and earlier served as chief operating officer of the Aerospace Industries Organisation.The Iranian Parliament is expected to review Akhlaghi’s proposed plans in the relevant committee before holding a confidence vote.The ministry has had no permanent leader since the beginning of the US-Iran war, when brigadier general Aziz Nasirzadeh was killed during the initial airstrikes. Since then, a number of military commanders have led the ministry on a temporary basis.
Yemen launches major operation against Houthis
On the ground in Yemen, the army of the internationally recognised government says it has retaken the Dhubab district along with key positions close to Bab al-Mandeb. The announcement came one day after the army said it had begun a major offensive named “Yemen Dawn” against the Houthis.The Houthis, however, have denied the claim. Al Jazeera reported.Yemen’s pro-government Saba news agency, citing a military source, also reported that government forces have seized Mocha, a strategic port city west of Taiz province. In September, the Iran-aligned group had made major gains along Yemen’s western Red Sea coast, capturing the strategic city and several Red Sea islands. These advances gave them control of Yemen’s side of the Bab el-Mandeb, a narrow maritime passage linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.Mocha has remained a central prize in the fighting between Houthi forces and the Saudi-backed government.The city’s location is the reason its fate matters well beyond Yemen. It lies roughly 75km north of the Bab al-Mandeb strait, the waterway linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.Separately, Iranian officials responded to the Houthi control over the Mandeb strait. Senior advisor to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, major-general Yahya Rahim Safavi, said the development was “another step in the larger defeat of the United States in the region”.He argued that Washington had been unable to manage the Gulf’s “security arrangements”, even after pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into military bases and weapons there.
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