The powerful General Qassem Soleimani, killed on January 3, 2020 in a US raid in Baghdad, was one of the most popular figures in Iran, seen as a formidable opponent of the United States and its allies. We will remind that on Wednesday in Iran, as a result of two explosions near the grave of Qassem Soleimani in the city of Kerman, where a large crowd of people gathered to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the general’s death, at least 100 people died.

• LIVE Iran: Massacre near Soleimani’s tomb, at a ceremony marking 4 years since the general’s assassination / Two explosions caused at least 100 deaths / Authorities say it was a terrorist attack – VIDEO

On January 3, 2020, Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed in an airstrike on their convoy at Baghdad airport.

Iran then threatened the US with retaliation, and then-US President Donald Trump marked the moment by tweeting an image of an American flag.

• Trump spoke about the drone strike on Soleimani at a fundraiser: He said bad things about our country. How much of this crap do we have to listen to?

“A combination of James Bond, Erwin Rommel and Lady Gaga”

The commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards, responsible for Iran’s foreign operations, this charismatic figure had a key influence on the political negotiations that began in 2018 to form a government in Iraq, AFP reported.

At the age of 62, he has become a real star in Iran in recent years, with many followers on his Instagram account.

For supporters and critics alike, Soleimani, who has played a major role in the fight against jihadist forces, has been Iran’s key figure in the Middle East, where he has bolstered Tehran’s diplomatic clout, particularly in Iraq and Syria, two countries where the U.S. is engaged militarily. .

“For the Shiites of the Middle East, he was a mixture of James Bond, Erwin Rommel and Lady Gaga,” wrote former CIA analyst Kenneth Pollack in a portrait of Soleimani for the US magazine Time, dedicated to the world’s most powerful people in 2017.

“For the West, he (…) is responsible for exporting the Islamic revolution to Iraq, for supporting terrorists (…) in waging Iran’s wars abroad,” he added.

In Iran, which has fallen into an economic quagmire, some have suggested that he enter the local political scene. But the Iranian general denied rumors that he is a candidate for the 2021 presidential election.

A key figure in Iraq

The general worked out his capabilities, especially in neighboring Iraq. At every political or military event in this country he was present to act behind the scenes and especially at the beginning.

The promotion of the Islamic State (IS) group, the referendum on the independence of Kurdistan or the formation of a new government… each time he met with different Iraqi parties and determined the line to be followed, said various sources who participated in these meetings, which were always organized at the highest level secrets

His influence was longstanding, having already commanded the Quds Force when the United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001.

“My Iranian interlocutors were very clear that, although they were informing the Foreign Office, the decision was ultimately made by General Soleimani,” Ryan Crocker, a former US ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq, told the BBC. in 2013.

After remaining behind the scenes for decades, Soleimani began making headlines after the start of the conflict in Syria in 2011, where Iran provided valuable aid to Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

As such, it has appeared in battlefield photos, documentaries, and even an animated film and music video.

“A calm and talkative man”

The top commander of the Revolutionary Guards, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s ideological arm, said he spent much of the summer 2006 Israel-Lebanese conflict in Lebanon — with the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah — in an interview broadcast on Iranian state television. in October.

A senior Iraqi commander described him as a calm and quiet man.

“He was sitting at the other end of the room, alone, very calm. He didn’t speak, he didn’t comment (…) he just listened,” he told the New Yorker.

According to a 2018 study by IranPoll and the University of Maryland, 83 percent of Iranians had a favorable opinion of Soleimani, ahead of President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Abroad, some Western leaders saw him as a central figure in Tehran’s relations with groups such as the Lebanese Hezbollah or the Palestinian Hamas.

Read also:Iran ordered the US to pay it 50 billion dollars in compensation for the killing of General Soleimani