Who was Qassem Soleimani?

The U.S. has killed the second most powerful man in Iran — but what role did he play in the region?

Transcript

00:00Qasem Soleimani is one of the most virulent enemies of American presence in the Middle East.

00:10He was the mastermind of what's happening in this region since more than a decade.

00:30He had an eye on Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and for some even Bahrain.

00:51He was the man of Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic revolution for the whole region.

01:21The Trump administration thinks that Qasem Soleimani is responsible for all the attacks

01:28in the last months, many attacks on American facilities in Iraq.

01:33And especially the latest in the Tikrit region where 30 rockets were launched and one contractor

01:37was dead and three I guess wounded.

01:41So by killing Qasem Soleimani they are responding on all this turmoil either in Iraq or in the

01:47region.

01:53At one point in this war on terror, Iranian and American interests converged to fight

01:59the Islamic State which was very powerful at one point in time in Iraq and in Syria.

02:07But Qasem Soleimani's fight isn't the same as the American fight.

02:11He is fighting for his interests, for the Islamic revolution interests.

02:15It's not the war on terror as framed by the United States and Western powers.

02:45But the Iranians have a plan and they are moving regarding this plan since the Iranian

02:56revolution in 1979.

02:58So they can respond.

02:59They can even respond without claiming responsibility.

03:01That's the way they do it.

03:03We should wait and see how things will evolve.