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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran: Quds Force leader is developing a cult status
2011-12-01
Diplomats and Iran analysts said that the storming of the British embassy in Tehran revealed the role of a growing, radical actor in Iranian foreign policy: the Quds Force.

There is certainly plenty of debate about how far up the chain of command the orders for Tuesday's embassy invasion went.

The force is the external operations wing of Iran's Revolutionary Guard corps (IRGC), one of the regime's most powerful institutions, with extensive economic and financial interests across the country.

Some of the rioters at the embassy on Tuesday held aloft pictures of the Quds Force commander, Qassem Suleimani, around whom a personality cult is developing. There are claims that a known Quds commander was in the crowd.
Me thinks something bad should happen to Qassem real soon. Perhaps he'll be standing in a nuclear facility when it accidentally blows up...
In his statement to parliament, William Hague said that the damage done to the embassy and the residential compound was done by 200 "student Basij militia", but diplomats note that according to a recent restructuring by the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, the Basij serve as a youth arm of the Revolutionary Guard.

Meir Javedanfar, an Israeli-Iranian analyst, said: "The Basij falls under the command of the IRGC who answer to Khamenei. Basij members don't turn up in front of embassies, unless they have permission from the IRGC as well as operational procedures, which would certainly include whether to launch a physical attack or not."

Conspicuous in their dark, ascetic clothing, the Basij crushed the opposition street protests of 2009 by driving into crowds of demonstrators on motorcycles wielding batons and knives.

Some diplomats believe that as the target on Tuesday was foreign, the Quds Force was "in the driving seat".

Another western official believes that the Quds Force's leading role is restricted to operations overseas, "but the mob see Suleimani as an icon as he is taking on the enemy directly".

Suleimani has made clear he has big ambitions. In 2008, he had a phone text sent to General David Petraeus when the CIA director-to-be was running the war in Iraq, informing him that he, Suleimani, was the man he should be dealing with on Iranian foreign policy. The text read: "General Petraeus, you should know that I, Qassem Suleimani, control the policy for Iran with respect to Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza, and Afghanistan.

"And indeed, the ambassador in Baghdad is a Quds Force member. The individual who's going to replace him is a Quds Force member."
Posted by:tipper

#3  Quds Force (Huh, Say wha-?)

A "Force? My ass!"
Posted by: Grease Jith3343   2011-12-01 22:59  

#2  Insh'allah
Posted by: lotp   2011-12-01 14:20  

#1  "First you get disciples, and then you get crucified."
Posted by: Anonymoose   2011-12-01 08:19  

00:00