Qasem Soleimani was not merely Iran’s most senior military commander. He was a towering presence second only to the Supreme Leader, the one figure in the country to whom he was answerable and whom it was often whispered he would replace should the Islamic regime fall. In Iran and among its Shia allies across the Middle East Soleimani, 62, enjoyed near-mythical status, described in Time magazine’s 100 most influential people list as “James Bond, Erwin Rommel and Lady Gaga rolled into one.”Soleimani’s rise to power came via the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which was set up after the 1979 revolution to protect the Islamic Republic and enforce its ideological aims. The corps cemented its hold over Iran in the wake of the Iran-Iraq War,…

Source: The Times January 03, 2020 09:00 UTC