Hassan Firouzabadi

Major General Hassan Firuzabadi (, born 3 February 1951 in Mashhad) is an Iranian military officer and the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces. He is the highest-ranking member of Iranian military after commander-in-chief.

Early life
He was born on 3 February 1951 in Mashhad, Iran and started his education at that city. He then graduated from Mashhad University of Medical Sciences in veterinary medicine. After Iranian Revolution, he joined Sepah Pasdaran and participated at Iran-Iraq War.

Military career
He is active in Military since 1981 when he was enjoyed to the Sepah Pasdaran and was a general in Iran-Iraq War. After the war, he became Deputy Director of Khatam al-Anbia, having appointed by President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. He then became Deputy Chief of Staff of the Military in 1989 and was appointed as Chief of Staff by Ali Khamenei on 2 November 2002.

He is one of the closest to the Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei and supported Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in recent elections. In May 2012, Firouzabadi gave a speech at a conference in Tehran, in which he stated that "The Iranian nation is standing for its cause that is the full annihilation of Israel." The Fars News Agency also noted that Firouzabadi "reminded the gatherers [sic] that the Iranian Supreme Leader considers defending Palestine as a full religion duty and believes that any kind of governance and rule by anyone other than the Palestinians is an instance of usurpation.”

Firouzabadi's remarks were later cited by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who argued that such statements are further evidence that “Iran wants to eliminate Israel and it is working to attain nuclear weapons in order to achieve that ambition.” He believes that the US has to take the opportunity to improve relation with Iran.