Leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei awarded Iran’s highest military order, the Order of Zulfaqar, to Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force Major General Qassem Suleimani.
General Suleimani is the first Iranian military official to receive the order after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Tasnim news agency reported.
After the Order of Zulfaqar, the Order of Conquest is the highest military order, which General Suleimani has already received three times.
The top general leads the elite Quds Force of the IRGC, and is widely known as one of the most influential military commanders in the world.
The Washington-based magazine Foreign Policy recently put the name of General Suleimani on top of its 2019 list of Global Thinkers in the defense and security field, followed by German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen.
A short write-up on the senior Iranian commander described him as the “public face of Iran’s response to US President Donald Trump’s threats.”
General Suleimani made headlines last July, when he delivered a blistering response to an all-caps tweet addressed to President Hassan Rouhani, in which Trump had issued a military threat against the Islamic Republic.
The IRGC commander is widely seen as a strategist and adviser in the counter-terrorism operations against Takfiri terrorists in Syria and Iraq.
The powerful general leads Iranian military advisers backing the national armies of Syria and Iraq in their fight against terrorism.
Source: Iranian media
