The appointments, made at a ceremony over the weekend and reported by Iran's Press TV, are "the continuation of a major reshuffling of the (corps) in recent months to make it more mobile and decentralized as a force to conduct irregular military activities against an invading enemy," analyst Rasool Nafisi told UPI.

Press TV said the appointments were made in a decree by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

The corps' ground forces and volunteer militia got new commanders, as did its base in Tehran, from which Nafisi said it would suppress any unrest in the capital.

Brig. Gen. Mohammad Jafar Assadi, a longtime corps commander and veteran of the 1988 war with Iraq, was put in charge of its ground forces, while Hojjatoleslam Hossein Taeb was tapped to head the corps' Baseej militia of civilian volunteers. Brig. Gen. Mohammad Hejazi was appointed commander of the corps' Tharallah military base in Tehran.

Press TV said the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces and other high-ranking commanders attended the ceremony held for the inauguration of the new commanders.

Nafisi said Taeb was a cleric, considered ideologically very close to the supreme leader. "Like (Khamenei), he has made a special study of �� counter-sedition," said Nafisi, adding it was referred to as "knowing the enemies of the revolution."

"That is not a very common thing."

According to Nafisi, an Iranian-American who teaches at Washington's Strayer University and follows the corps closely, Taeb previously had been the deputy commander of the Baseej force, a militia of between 12 million and 15 million spare-time civilian volunteers he said was organized to "spy on their workmates and neighbors, take part in demonstrations of support for (the regime) and �� suppress (opposition) demonstrations."

"They do whatever the regime requires of them," he said.

The Baseej force is one of the five elements that make up the corps -- the others being ground, air and naval forces, and the notorious al-Quds brigade, which recently was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.

The Quds brigade, Nafisi said, is "an independent force (in the corps) in charge of international activities ... spreading the Islamic revolution."

He said the force recently had become "very powerful, almost like a second-tier foreign policy organization" behind the nation's Foreign Ministry.

Nafisi said a few months ago the training for the Baseej militia had been expanded to include heavier weapons. "They are preparing to use them as a resistance force in case of invasion by the United States or Israel," he said.

By contrast, Assadi, who now heads the corps' ground forces, is a veteran of the group's military operations, who led the paramilitary force that defeated the incursion by the Iraqi-backed People's Mujahedin Organization after the end of the Iran-Iraq war.

Assadi, who has a degree in military strategy from an Iranian government institution, is an ethnic Lor from Iran's Fars province who started his career in the corps as a volunteer, said Nafisi.

Hejazi, who in his new job would be responsible for suppressing any unrest in the capital, "is one of the most powerful (corps) commanders" who previously headed its ideological bureau, said Nafisi.

"His new appointment as the commander of the Tharallah base �� means more power for him, and less worry for the leadership."

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