The Quds Force general commanded the country's extraterritorial military and intelligence operations for over two decades before being assassinated in Baghdad by a US drone on January 3, with his death leading to a dramatic escalation of tensions between Tehran and Washington.
General Qasem Soleimani was not simply a military commander, but also a skilled diplomat and administrator who spearheaded Iran's response against US imperialism in the Middle East, former Defence Minister Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan has said.
Speaking to Tasnim News in an interview published Monday, Dehghan, who was a close personal friend of Soleimani, and worked with him during the four years he served as Iran's defence minister from 2013 to 2017, revealed new details about the Quds commander's exploits.
“His entry into the Quds Force coincided with the onset of insecurity in the region, with the Taliban's rise in Afghanistan and then the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the evils of the Zionist regime in Lebanon and Palestine, and the Takfiri terrorist movements like Daesh[ISIS],*” Dehghan said, using the pejorative term often used by Iranian officials to describe the State of Israel.
‘Controlled Chaos'
Commenting on the events leading up to Soleimani's assassination, the retired general said that the US didn't appear to believe “that the assassination would have such consequences for them,” and…
