22OCT

Iran's MPs confirm new defence minister

2 min read

17:22UTC

Iran's parliament confirmed Mehrdad Akhlaghi as defence minister by webinar, replacing a minister killed in the war, as armed groups claim attacks in the south-east.

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Key takeaway

Iran confirmed Mehrdad Akhlaghi as defence minister by webinar, replacing a minister killed in the war.

The Majlis, Iran's parliament, confirmed Mehrdad Akhlaghi as Minister of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics on Sunday 18 October by 237 votes to 15, with 277 members present, in an open session held by webinar rather than in the chamber⁠¹. He replaces Aziz Nasirzadeh, killed in the war. On 21 October Akhlaghi said the air force and air defence come first.

Tehran hanged a man this month over wartime armed attacks in Kerman. In the south-east the People's Fighters Front, an armed opposition coalition, claims six attacks in Sistan-Baluchistan and Kerman provinces, which no independent source has verified. The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a US-based Iranian rights group, has recorded 18 incidents in 18 days⁠².

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Iran's parliament is called the Majlis. It must approve ministers chosen by the president. On 18 October it approved a new defence minister, Mehrdad Akhlaghi, after his predecessor was killed in the war. The vote was held online rather than in the Parliament building. Meanwhile, armed groups in Iran's south-east, a poor region near Pakistan, say they have carried out new attacks on Iranian forces.

Deep Analysis

Root Causes

Sistan-Baluchistan is Iran's poorest province and largely Sunni, in a Shia-majority state. Its long borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan let armed groups move across them, and Tehran's response has relied on security forces rather than development.

The webinar session reflects a second condition. Senior officials remain targets in this war, so the state has moved meetings that would gather many of them in one place.

What could happen next?

Meaning
Holding a confirmation vote by webinar shows Tehran expects strikes on gatherings of senior officials to continue.
Risk
More attacks in the south-east may bring more wartime executions, as in Kerman this month {{EVREF:/t/iran-conflict-2026/181/iran-hangs-a-man-mizan-ties-to-israel/}}.

Source Landscape

This story draws on mixed-leaning sources from United States

United States×2

LeftRight

Primary parallel: In June 1981 a bomb at the Islamic Republican Party headquarters killed Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti and more than 70 officials, and in August 1981 another killed President Mohammad-Ali Rajai and Prime Minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar. The system replaced them within weeks and held, setting the pattern of rapid succession under attack.

Counter-parallel: In October 2009 a Jundallah suicide bomber in Pishin, Sistan-Baluchistan, killed senior IRGC commanders including Nour-Ali Shushtari. Iran captured the group's leader, Abdolmalek Rigi, in February 2010 and executed him, and Jundallah fragmented.

Consensus view: Iran's Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics runs military procurement and the defence industries through its subsidiaries. Akhlaghi's stated priority, the air force and air defence, tells those industries where their output goes first.

Counter-view: Haalvsh, a Baluch rights group, has documented state killings and executions in Sistan-Baluchistan, counting 627 Baluch killed in the year to March 2023.

Key tension: Whether Tehran treats attacks in Sistan-Baluchistan and Kerman as a war front, with wartime courts, or as a domestic insurgency it can contain.

Sources:CBS News·Fox News·Taadol

Mentions:Mehrdad Akhlaghi →Bahonar →Majlis →People's Fighters Front →Sistan-Baluchistan →Kerman →Human Rights Activists News Agency →Iran →Tehran →Republican Party →Rajai →Pakistan →

First Reported In

Update #182 · Iran says it mined Hormuz and hit 7 ships

CBS News· 22 Oct 2026

Read original →

Causes and effects

Caused by

Iran hangs a man Mizan ties to Israel

An armed coalition claims attacks in Kerman after Iran hanged a man over wartime attacks there.

Occurred 14 Oct 2026

Read story →

This Event

Iran's MPs confirm new defence minister

Iran has filled a defence post the war emptied, through a parliamentary vote held by webinar.

Different Perspectives

Wang Yi

China's foreign minister and Djibouti's issued a joint communique on 21 October saying the war should not reach the Horn of Africa and stressing free navigation through Bab al-Mandeb. The text names neither Iran nor the Houthis, and Djibouti hosts China's only overseas military base, opposite the Yemeni coast.

Ministry of External Affairs

India's foreign ministry called the attacks on Saudi civilian and energy sites "unacceptable" on 22 October and said they must stop at once. An Indian died at Dammam, Indians were injured there and at Shaybah, and about 4,000 Umrah pilgrims remain stranded by one MP's count.

Iraq

Iraq closed the al-Sheeb crossing with Iran to travellers and trucks from 21 October and said other crossings would close gradually. Unlike September's closure, which ended on a staged timetable, this one has none, and Iran's interior ministry said it received no notice.

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

Egypt's president said on 21 October that Cairo's support would "defend Saudi territory, and does not include an attack on Yemen". Araghchi warned that Egyptian involvement would further complicate the situation, and Cairo's limit matches the one Ankara set on 8 October against attacking another state's soil.

UK Ministry of Defence

The MoD said on 20 October that RAF Typhoons over Saudi Arabia will not strike the Houthis, but extended tanker support to Saudi operations including against Houthi targets in Yemen. The tanker line sets no limit on strikes, so British aircraft may now refuel Saudi jets on bombing runs.

Turkey

Ankara sent the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement to parliament around 20 October, and its published text treats an attack on one party as an attack on all. Article 16 brings it into force only on the last ratification, so the 5 October invocation in Riyadh could not yet bind Turkey.

Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.