Amir Hatami

Amir Hatami is an Iranian military officer who is currently serving as the commander-in-chief of the Iranian Army. Holding the rank of major general, Hatami was appointed commander-in-chief following the promotion of Abdolrahim Mousavi to Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces after the assassination of his predecessor Mohammad Bagheri in the June 2025 Israeli strikes on Iran.
Hatami is also an Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Armed Forces of Army Affairs and the former minister of defense of Iran. He was designated as the defense minister by President Hassan Rouhani on 8 August 2017 and gained vote of confidence from the parliament on 20 August 2017, with 261 yes, 10 nays, 13 abstentions and 4 invalid votes.

Biography

Amir Hatami was born in 1966 in Tehran, Iran. At the age of 14, Hatami joined the Basij as a volunteer and began serving in the Iranian Army Ground Forces in 1984. After the war, he entered the Imam Ali Officers' University in 1989 and graduated in defense science management.
He is the first minister of defense with Artesh background in more than two decades, an office held by Revolutionary Guards officers only since 1989.
Hatami previously served as the head of the Army's international relations office, as well as a deputy in the armed forces general staff.