Mar 1, 2021 12:30 PM ET
Please join the Iranian Studies Initiative (ISI) for a book talk on Arash Azizi's (New York University) new book, The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the U.S., and Iran's Global Ambitions, with discussant Mehrzad Boroujerdi (Virginia Tech). Qassem Soleimani was one of the most powerful men in Iran and the military spearhead for Iranian foreign policy, enacting the wishes of the country’s Supreme Leader in the region. A widely popular but also feared maverick operator, he helped to establish the Islamic Republic as a major force in the Middle East, with interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. This was a long way from where he began as a youth, living on the margins in a country ruled by a monarch supported by the United States.