A powerful Iranian general who commands the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has resurfaced as Tehran prepared for the multiday funeral of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Images released by Iranian state media showed Gen. Ahmad Vahidi attending a meeting on funeral arrangements for Khamenei, 86, before taking a seat beside the supreme leader's casket during a private memorial service Thursday night near Khamenei's former residence in downtown Tehran.
Analysts say Vahidi has emerged as a key architect of Iran's hard-line approach to negotiations over a possible permanent end to the conflict with the United States.
He is believed to be among a small circle of senior officials in direct contact with Iran's new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who has remained out of public view after reportedly being wounded in the Feb. 28 Israeli strikes that killed his father.
Vahidi himself has not been seen publicly since Feb. 8, weeks before the Iran war began.
