Profile: Major General Mohammad Pakpour, the martyred IRGC commander-in-chief
By Press TV Website Staff
Major General Mohammad Pakpour, the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), was martyred in the Israeli-American aggression on Saturday.
The news about his martyrdom was announced by the IRGC on Sunday morning.
Major General Pakpour was appointed as the top IRGC commander following the assassination of Major General Hossein Salami in the 12-day war in June last year.
The aggression also claimed the lives of other top-ranking military commanders, including Abdulrahim Mousavi, the chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces.
Born in 1961 in Arak, central Iran, Major General Pakpour had a master’s degree in geography from the University of Tehran and a Ph.D. in political geography from Tarbiat Modares University.
His expertise was in managing Iran’s volatile border regions and developing the doctrine of asymmetric warfare.
Joining the IRGC Quds Force after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Pakpour was immediately deployed to combat terrorist groups in Iran’s Kurdistan region.
During the Imposed War in the 1980s, he commanded multiple frontline divisions, including the elite 8th Najaf Ashraf and 31st Ashura units.
Wounded in combat, Pakpour earned a reputation as a resilient, pragmatic commander deeply committed to the ideological foundations of the Islamic Republic.
IRGC Chief Major General Mohammad Pakpour (left) and Senior advisor to Ayatollah Khamenei Ali Shamkhani (right) were martyred in US-Israeli aggression on Iran.
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After the war, he took on strategic leadership roles within the IRGC. In 2009, Pakpour was appointed commander of the IRGC Ground Forces, spearheading efforts to modernize, restructure, and reposition Iran’s military strategy amid mounting foreign threats.
Pakpour’s role in counterterrorism is especially notable. He directed the deployment of elite Saberin units during the 2017 Daesh terror attacks on the Iranian parliament and Imam Khomeini’s mausoleum, demonstrating the IRGC’s critical role in safeguarding the nation.
In 2021, the European Union sanctioned Pakpour on flimsy pretexts, like many other IRGC commanders sanctioned over the years.
During the 12-day imposed war in June 2025, he led the IRGC from the front, inflicted heavy blows on the Zionist enemy and forced it to seek surrender after 12 days.
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