Mohammad Reza Naqdi
Mohammad Reza Naqdi is an Iranian military officer who is a senior officer in the IRGC.
Background
According to the biography published by the semi-official Fars News Agency, Naqdi was born in March 1961 in a middle-class religious family in Shapour neighbourhood of Tehran. Aging 16, he enrolled in University of Guilan in 1977 and co-founded its Anjoman-e Eslami. He helped founding Jihad of Construction in June 1979, before joining the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Unit.The Majalla claims that Naqdi is an Iraqi national of Iranian origin and the son of a Shiite cleric named Ali Akbar Thamahniy Shams, who was expelled from Iraq in 1980 among convoys of Moaveds and was placed in the city of Naqadeh with his family. He was allegedly affiliated with the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.
Career
Earlier in his career Naqdi served as the Iranian Police Force's Counter-Intelligence Chief and is also reported to have been involved in "crackdowns" during the 1997-2005 administration of Khatami including the 1999 student protests. Amnesty International reported that in March 1999 Iranian authorities announced that General Naqdi, chief of police intelligence at the time, to be tried in May by a military court along with 10 of his subordinates. "The charges against them are believed to include 'unlawful arrest' and 'using torture to elicit confessions'." He was found not guilty.Naqdi was appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as commander of the Basij in October 2009, replacing Hossein Taeb. He has been described as possessing "conservative credentials" and his appointment was said to have "shattered the hopes and plans of those who thought they could ease" the unrest and protest following the reelection of President Ahmadinejad.
2009 protests
On 14 February 2011 Naqdi was quoted by the semi-official Fars news agency as saying he believed the February protests in Iran had been started by "western spies" and that "western intelligence agencies are searching for a mentally challenged person who can set himself on fire in Tehran to trigger developments like those in Egypt and Tunisia." Naqdi was also quoted as saying the basij were "ready to sacrifice their lives" to defend the Islamic regime, and likened the opposition to the "party of Satan."Two weeks later on 23 February 2011, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on General Naqdi, "for being responsible for or complicit in serious human rights abuses in Iran", adding him to the Office of Foreign Assets Control blacklist. The action subjects him "to visa sanctions" and "seeks to block any assets" he may have under U.S. jurisdiction, and "bans U.S. citizens from financial transactions with them".
Views
Israel
In 2011 Naqdi called on Israeli citizens to leave the region voluntarily. He said, "We recommend them to pack their furniture and return to their countries," adding that if they remained, "a time will arrive when they will not even have time to pack their suitcases."During a 2015 speech Naqdi threatened Israel and declared that an Israeli attack on Hizbullah forces which led to killing of an Iranian revolutionary guard official in Syria will be responded to by liberating of Palestine.