Next Iran ambassador to Iraq is IRGC-QF general

File photo: IRGC-QF Brig. Gen. Iraj Masjedi (photo: mashhadpayam.ir)

Various Iranian news agencies are stating the next Iranian ambassador to Iraq will be IRGC-QF Brig. Gen. Iraj Masjedi; replacing another with ties to IRGC-QF,  Hassan Danaeifar, who is set to conclude his six-year term.

Comment: If the reports are accurate, it is noteworthy in the fact that IRGC-QF Brig. Gen. Iraj Masjed has served as a senior advisor to IRGC-QF Maj. Gen. Soleimani. As Iraq is currently a battleground, Iran's leadership appears to derive the need of placement as ambassador an IRGC-QF officer.

With factionalism that is prevalent in Iranian politics, one can speculate that possibly as a result of the IRGC-QF victory at the Battle of Aleppo, Soleimani's star has risen from where it may have dipped before at the Battle of Tikrit.

Soleimani's role in Iran's armed expeditionary force efforts in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere is more diplomatic, in ways somewhat similar to USA Gen. Eisenhower's role at ETO during World War II. Like Ike, Soleimani, puts together and deploys arrays of disparate forces, and is involved in operational decision making. He is not a battlefield commander. The public exposure Soleimani is accorded on Iranian media suggests he may be intended as a potential presidential candidate in 2017 or 2021.

Iraj Masjedi, as he appears in civvies