TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei named a new head for the elite Revolutionary Guard, an organization Washington is looking to list as a terrorist group, state media announced Saturday.

Khamenei appointed Mohammed Ali Jafari, described only as a senior figure in the hardline force, to replace General Yahya Rahim Safavi who has led the Guards for the last decade.

"Given your valuable experience and shining record at various periods and different responsibilities within the Guard, I appoint you as the commander in chief of this revolutionary and faithful organization," Khamenei said about Jafari in a televised statement.

Safavi, meanwhile, was appointed in separate decree as the supreme leader's top advisor.

No reason was given for the change which comes amid rising accusations from Washington that the Guard engages in terrorist acts abroad and is particularly active against U.S. forces in Iraq.

It is not clear if the reshuffle will affect Washington's decision to put the Guards on the list of terrorist organizations, a move that would pressure businesses the corps is thought to control, from construction to oil sectors.

Khameini's decision, however, does come two weeks after Safavi told the local press that the Guards would retaliate against Washington's attempts to register it as terrorist.

"America will receive a heavier punch from the guards in the future," he was quoted as saying on Aug. 16 by the conservative daily Kayhan. "We will never remain silent in the face of U.S. pressure and we will use our leverage against them."

Reshuffles of top military commanders take place with relative frequency among the other branches of the service but the Revolutionary Guards appeared to be the exception with Safavi's decade-long tenure.

The estimated 200,000-strong Revolutionary Guards answers directly to Khamenei and is seen as a defender of the clerical establishment brought to power by the 1979 Islamic revolution that swept away a pro-U.S. regime. -AP