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Iran's Spymaster Counters U.S. Moves in the Mideast
(Wall Street Journal) Jay Solomon and Siobhan Gorman - Iran spymaster Maj.-Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of Iran's overseas forces, is emerging as director of the Islamic Republic's effort to spread its influence abroad and bedevil the West. Senior U.S. and Arab officials say it was Gen. Soleimani's idea to harass and bleed American forces for years in Iraq by arming Shiite militias there. The general's Qods Force oversees Iran's support for groups fighting Israel, including Hizbullah and Hamas. Israel publicly blames the Qods Force for a string of assassination attempts on Israeli diplomats. Last October, the U.S. Justice Department indicted Soleimani for his purported role in a bomb plot aimed at killing the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Washington.