Qasem Soleimani (Persian: قاسم سلیمانی‎, pronounced [ɢɒːˌsem solejˈmɒːniː]; 11 March 1957 – 3 January 2020) was an Iranian major general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and, from 1998 until his death in 2020, commander of its Quds Force, a division primarily responsible for extraterritorial military and clandestine operations. In his later years, he was considered the second most powerful person in Iran behind Ayatollah Khamenei and his right-hand man.