Dealing with the plight of ordinary Iranians in light of Iran’s seriously deteriorating economic situation will undoubtedly become hugely more complex as the political dust settles following the American drone attack that killed Ghassem Soleimani, the Commander of the IRGC’s ‘Quds Force’ along with Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, deputy leader of the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF).
A controversial and shadowy figure in Iran, next to Ayatollah Khomeini the founder of the Islamic Republic, Soleimani was probably the only other largely popular and nationally acclaimed Iranian political figure since the inception of the Islamic Republic 40 years ago - as evidenced by the genuine public acclamation awarded to him in the course of his albeit meticulously stage managed funeral procession. Soleimani's burial in Kerman was ultimately postponed for several hours after as many as 56 people were killed and more than 200 others injured during a stampede that broke out during the emotionally charged event.
Despite all the heated rhetoric generated by a variety of leading figures in Iran, Soleimani’s death has come at a time when any potential retaliation on the part of Iran might come at a very high cost to a regime already facing unprecedented domestic challenges and popular unrest due to its rapidly declining economic circumstances propelled by American sanctions.
