Iran Official Says Only Khamenei Knows Everything Soleimani Did
Mohammad Shirazi, the head of the military office of Iran’s Supreme Leader, has praised the “achievements” of Qasem Soleimani, the slain head of IRGC Quds Force.
Mohammad Shirazi, the head of the military office of Iran’s Supreme Leader, has praised the “achievements” of Qasem Soleimani, the slain head of IRGC Quds Force.
Only a fraction of Soleimani’s activities have been revealed, said Shirazi on Saturday, further stressing that “nobody” knows what the slain IRGC commander did except for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
It is not unprecedented for those in the inner circle of power in the Islamic Republic to employ a magniloquent and sycophantic rhetoric to praise Khamenei and Soleimani to guarantee their upward mobility on political and economic ladders within the theocratic establishment.
Soleimani, the Iranian regime’s top military and intelligence operative in the Middle East, was killed in a US drone strike in January 2020 in Iraq.
Via a costly and extensive propaganda campaign, the Islamic Republic has tried to promote the image of Soleimani as a national hero.
However, many Iranians view the slain IRGC commander as a destructive figure, labeling him a master terrorist, echoing the terminology used by the United States. Some critics argue that his primary focus was on developing Iran’s regional militant proxy networks rather than addressing domestic concerns.
Earlier in the month, Markus Rosch, the Istanbul-based correspondent for the German public TV station ARD, sparked anger over his report that claimed all Iranians worship Soleimani.
“Every Iranian, whether opposition or not, worships him as a hero,” he had told millions of viewers watching the popular ARD Tagesschau news program. Rosch’s comment about a man accused of fomenting bloodshed in the Middle East triggered widespread outrage on social media, prompting Rosch to apologize.
