Gen. Ahmad Vahidi: Powerful IRGC general reemerges as Iran prepares days of mourning for Khamenei
Guard commander’s return signals continuity as Iran mourns late supreme leader
Tehran, Iran: A powerful general who leads Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps emerged from hiding Friday as Tehran prepared for days of funeral ceremonies for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Photos published by Iranian state media showed Gen. Ahmad Vahidi attending a meeting on funeral arrangements for Khamenei, who died at 86, and sitting beside his casket during a smaller service late Thursday in a mourning hall near the supreme leader's former residence in downtown Tehran.
Vahidi had not been seen publicly since February 8, weeks before the war with the United States and Israel began.
He has played a major role in shaping Iran's hard-line positions in negotiations over a possible permanent end to the conflict, according to experts.
Inner circle
He is believed to belong to a small inner circle in direct contact with Iran's new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
The younger Khamenei has remained in hiding after being wounded in Israeli strikes on February 28 that killed his father.
In a photo released by the Supreme Leader's office, Vahidi sat alongside the elder Khamenei's casket as it lay in a mourning hall adjacent to the Imam Khomeini Hussainiya within the Supreme Leader's compound in Tehran late Thursday.
