Is the Death of Iran's General a Political Game Changer?

s the Death of Iran's General a Political Game Changer? The killing of Gen. Qassim Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, by the United States could be a political game-changer inside an Iraq that recently saw anti-government protests that included calls for Iran to stop meddling in the country, according to Middle East political analysts. “Soleimani ran the pro-Tehran politicians in Iraq,” Sam Bazzi, a Middle East analyst and the founder of the (the web-based) Islamic Counterterrorism Institute and Hezbollah Watch, told The Epoch Times. “He had carried a lot of political weight and influence among the Iranian regime’s regional proxies and political allies. His death comes at a time when Iraq is divided and in the process of electing a new prime minister,” said Bazzi. Soleimani’s political power inside Iraq was visible—the day after anti-government protests erupted in Iraq, Soleimani flew into Baghdad late at night and took a helicopter to the heavily fortified Green Zone where he surprised a group of top security officials by chairing a meeting in place of the prime minister.