For decades, Iran‘s shadowy Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) had a face: Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani – the dashing and charismatic mastermind of Tehran’s military and intelligence operations across the Middle East. When a U.S. drone strike killed him in Baghdad in January 2020, Iran mourned the loss of a towering national hero.
But there was one Iranian who may not have been so heart-broken: Soleimani’s boss, Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, the IRGC’s overall commander and, until Soleimani’s assassination, a powerful yet largely faceless bureaucrat in Iran’s sprawling security establishment.
Since then, however, Salami, 63, has stepped forcefully into the spotlight, appearing frequently in public to deliver fiery speeches that threaten the United States, promise Israel‘s erasure from the map, and for the past year, laud the IRGC’S harsh internal crackdown on women protesting against conservative dress requirements and abuse by the government’s morality police. What the terror boss lacks in charisma, he’s more than made up for in sheer power.
“Salami probably didn’t shed any tears when Soleimani got killed because while Salami was the IRGC commander, it was Soleimani who was always sitting at the right hand of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei,” says Douglas London, a decorated, 34-year CIA veteran who served in the Middle East. “Salami probably felt he could take advantage of Soleimani’s…
