Iranian army troops march in a parade marking National Army Day, in front of the mausoleum of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, just outside Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 17, 2016.

The website of Iran’s Supreme Leader is reporting that he has appointed a new chief for the national army’s ground forces.

The Saturday report says Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, has appointed Gen. Kiumars Heidari to the post.

The 52-year-old Heidari was formerly the acting commander of the ground forces. He is a veteran of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war that cost both sides over a million people.

Separately, Khamenei also appointed the former chief of ground forces Gen. Ahmad Reza Pourdastan to the post of acting commander of the army. Pourdastan has served seven years in the post.

Both the national army and the elite Revolutionary Guard have their own separate air, naval and ground forces.

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