Esmail Qaani is the head of the foreign branch of the IRGC, the Quds Force. (Credit: AFP via Getty Images)
It was a discreet visit. No official photos or statements from Esmail Qaani, commander of Iran's Quds Force, emerged from the room in Baghdad on Oct. 25.In the midst of the campaign for the Iraqi parliamentary elections, scheduled for Nov. 11, the purpose of the trip was clear: prevent the Iraqi Coordination Framework—a grouping of pro-Iranian Shiite factions that helped the government come to power—from fragmenting."There is real uncertainty about the future of al-qaïmi-shiria, Shiite governance in the Middle East," says Adel Bakawan, director of the European Institute of Middle Eastern and North African Studies (Eismna). More on Iran Iran ratifies law to join UN convention against terror financing Intra-Shiite rivalries are indeed significant on the Iraqi political scene, and Tehran is deeply concerned about their...
It was a discreet visit. No official photos or statements from Esmail Qaani, commander of Iran's Quds Force, emerged from the room in Baghdad on Oct. 25.In the midst of the campaign for the Iraqi parliamentary elections, scheduled for Nov. 11, the purpose of the trip was clear: prevent the Iraqi Coordination Framework—a grouping of pro-Iranian Shiite factions that helped the government come to power—from fragmenting."There is real uncertainty about the future of al-qaïmi-shiria, Shiite governance in the Middle East," says Adel Bakawan, director of the European Institute of Middle Eastern and North African Studies (Eismna). More on Iran Iran ratifies law to join UN convention against terror financing Intra-Shiite rivalries are indeed significant on the Iraqi political scene, and Tehran is deeply concerned about...
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