The Quds Force commander Qassem Suleimani recently visited
Moscow to meet with senior Russian leaders, despite a travel ban and U.N.
Security Council resolutions barring him from leaving Iran.
Suleimani was first designated a terrorist and sanctioned by
the U.S. in 2005 for his role as a proliferator of WMD. In October 2011, the
U.S. Treasury Department tied Suleimani to the failed Iranian plot to
assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States in Washington, D.C. The
Quds Force is the special forces external wing of the Iranian Revolutionary
Guard, responsible for supporting terrorist proxies across the Middle East. It
reports directly to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
