Ghaani: the hidden hand behind Iran’s potent proxies

Most Americans have likely never heard of Esmail Ghaani, despite his fingerprints being over a slew of recent attacks on US targets.

As the powerful chief of the Quds Force, the unconventional warfare wing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Ghaani is charged with overseeing Tehran’s network of allied and proxy groups across the Middle East.

But despite recent media attention following a significant increase in attacks by Quds-backed militants since the October 7, 2023, attack in Israel, Ghaani remains a figure who largely shuns the public spotlight.

This is both like and unlike his predecessor Qassem Soleimani, who died in a controversial 2020 US strike in Iraq.

For the first decade of his stint as Quds Force commander, which began in the late 1990s, Soleimani also kept a low profile. But in the years leading up to his death in 2020, he promoted his accomplishments openly on social media.

Soleimani’s loss was seen as a massive blow to the Quds Force and Iran’s national security agenda overall given his popularity in Iran and his achievements, making the task of replacing him daunting.

Ghaani had been Soleimani’s deputy, and the two had known each other since the early 1980s during their military service in the Iran-Iraq War. In the initial aftermath of Soleimani’s death, experts questioned whether Ghaani would be a capable replacement.

But despite differing from Soleimani in both personality and attitude toward publicity, Ghaani has managed to expand upon the foundation that Soleimani carefully cultivated over 20 years.

Under Ghaani, the Quds Force has doubled down on the strategy of supporting, arming and funding terrorist and insurgent groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan and the Palestinian