General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Qods Force, has proclaimed that Tehran has no “materialistic interests” in its interventions in Syria and Iraq.
Soleimani (pictured) — one of the most popular figures in the Islamic Republic and a symbol of both the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Iran’s essential support of the Assad regime in Syria — said on Sunday:
When we entered Iraq, we didn’t differentiate between our interests and those of Iraq, and we were not after oil wells or seizing cities like Mosul or Kirkuk. We did not and do not have monetary demands, either.
He declared that, despite the “violent capacities” in Syria of the Islamic State and rebel factions such as Jaish al-Islam, Iran had brought “stability” to the country.
The Revolutionary Guards, including the Qods Forces, have put in thousands of troops and Iranian-led foreign militia to prop up the Assad regime, especially alongside Russian military operations from September 2015.
Soleimani continued on Sunday to describe the intervention as “advisory”. He assertred that the Iranian regime had succeeded in transcending matters of language and race”.
The general also proclaimed Iranian benevolence with its position on Palestine, saying that the Islamic Republic did not support the Palestinian people because of “Shia interests”. He said, “We defend them”, even though almost all Palestinians are Sunni Muslim.
Because of this benevolence, Soleimani maintained, Iran is now enjoying a “status of real power” in the region.
