Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force “will not be the same” as it was under Qasem Soleimani, ex-US Army Central Command chief, four-star general Joseph Votel said on Wednesday.
Speaking from the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) annual international conference in Tel Aviv, Votel explained that the new IRGC Quds Force chief, Esmail Ghaani, does not have anywhere near the same stature or capabilities as Soleimani.
Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike in early January in a move that rocked the region.
Votel, who was in charge of US forces and coalition forces addressing Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and many other countries until March 2019, said that killing Soleimani had helped reestablish a balance of deterrence between the US and Iran.
The former general said that Iran was likely “to look inward” and to “consolidate power” within the country in the near future.
He expressed hope that the act of killing Soleimani, the Quds Force loss of his unique capabilities and Iran’s embarrassing mistaken shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner might get the Islamic Republic to back off from some of its more aggressive and risky activities in the region.
Source » jpost