03-9 SG1 Approved For Re~ase 000/08/08 CIA-RDP96'-00789 B RuDAY, JUNE 3,1988 A21 1, unief Commander Of .,Iranian ' ~atr By ick E. Tyler ~as~iagton Post Foreign Ser0ce CAIRO, Egypt, June 2-Iran's 1)6i#erful speaker'of parliament, Hojatol,eslam Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani,today assumed the role as commander-in-chief of Iran's armed forces with a mandate from ,-Ayat6flah~Ruh6flah Khomeini to re- organize the military after two se- rious defeats in the land war with Iraq' and a costly naval clash with the Uhited States. T.~brap ~:g~dio and Iran's state ,, -k "d that Kho no agen y1announce meini, the' 'country's' 87-year-old spiritual leader, issued an edict re- linquishing' constitutional title of command6ri-k-chief to Rafsanjani. .The country's president, Ali Kha- meini, who also sits as chairman of Iran's Supreme Defense Council, was.reported to have urged Rafsan- jani's appointment, calling him "the only suitable to be assigned person il~portant respbnsibilty." 53-~ear-old clergy- man,'.fias not received any formal military training. 1, In the wake of parliamentary elections during April and May, the appointment is the clearest indica- tioin to date that Rafsanjani has emerged as an' even' stronger po- litical force at the top of Iran's rev- olution_ar~ elite. Rafsanjani's most important con- stftuent' Khomeini, has for the sec- ond fime in six months responded to calls from his proteges in the highly factionalized government to consol- idate power and give the Rafsan- jani-led forces more allthority to manage the economy and, now, the war. . In a Commentary, Tehran Radio said, "It is hoped that this transfer of, power will be the beginning of t ev6lopments on the battle- fiel Vl~ Irian has suffered'a number Of set,Oacks in recent battles against N' "' if l -4. n pri . 7,'Ii7aqi forces dis I.~Ulr'anian'occup.ation forces ,ge 1. ~ ~,, n--1-S.01 ,from-ern tiw Peninsula, U and oh'May25', Iraq pushed Iranian troops1fr6m the eastern odtskirts of 41,_ 9,,th "bort 6ty of Basra back 4 ~ ul ign Umn r er. hi Mteiha ibial ISoM_ ay aer aw six were.-Wnk or .In ~iafships ~*avi- amaked wheh' they en g~je7- V.S. ^Navy vessels as they dest & _6d t7'0Iranian oil platforms. L TT he was in retaliation ~jr anfiNrar~ian`mine explosion that 1"gateIUSS Samuel B. e n erts. r th pproved For' A f 1j.. ~gpft~ bF~teT-o&&MW6641s1J6b6 0S , a AV V~rces Brig. Gen. Ismael Sohrabi, and re~, placed him with a!l qffj~*r with- more solid revolatioOfy tials, Col. Ali $hahbazi. In today's edict, Khomeini au- thorized Rafsanjani to reconstruct the armed forces command and to set up a "general command head- quarters and organize the full co- Iordination of the armed forces, the Revolutionary Guards, the security forces and volunteer mobilization forces." Military analysts who monitor the nearly eight-year-old Iran4raq war have noted that in recent cam- paigns there.appeared to be a lack of coordination between Iran's reg-, ular armed forces -and the Revolu- tionary Guards, whose leadership has built parallel ground, air and naval units under a separate com- mand structure. Some analysts have suggested that Iran's debilitated Air Force and underfunded regular Army have failed to come to the assistance of Revolutionary Guards under attack at Faw and east of Basra, Khomeini, in today',-, edict, stressed the importance of "com- plete unity" in the military and charged Rafsanjani with developing -Specific objectives" in training, lo- 'kistics' and defense industries. Rafsanjani has for some time car- ried the title of Khomeini's repre- sentative on the Supreme Defense Council and has been deeply in- volved' in planning and directing military campaigns such as the oc- ation of Faw in February 1986 cup and the seizure of territory outside Basra in January 1987, which cost t'# "the only suitable person"