Starting around 2013, when Hassan Rouhani became Iran’s president, Western media suddenly began reporting about a general who had become the most influential man in Iran’s foreign policy. It was Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Soleimani, according to the New Yorker, was described by a former CIA officer as “the single most powerful operative in the Middle East.” He was “the shadow commander” who was “reshaping the Middle East.” He had been commander of the Quds Force of the guard for 15 years at the time of the article, and he was even on the U.S. Treasury Department’s terrorist list for his involvement in the killing of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and for commanding various operations in Afghanistan.