Soleimani in Moscow? Iran says yes, Russia says no

Soleimani in Moscow? Iran says yes, Russia says no
Iran's foreign covert operations chief met with Vladimir Putin last week, said Iranian news agencies, but Moscow has denied the meeting, which would violate a UN travel ban, took place.
2 min read
17 December, 2015
From Iraq and Yemen, to Syria and Lebanon, Soleimani enjoys celebrity status [AFP]
A Kremlin spokesperson has denied earlier reports that Iran's shadowy General Qassem Soleimani had met with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.

So was there, or wasn't there a meeting between Putin and Iran's spymaster?

"No, there wasn't," the senior Moscow official told RIA news agency.

Earlier on Wednesday, Iran's Fars news agency said Soleimani, the commander of the Qods Force - which handles foreign operations for Tehran's elite Revolutionary Guards - was in Moscow for talks with Putin and senior military and security officials.

There was a similar confusion about Soleimani's travels last July. News agencies at the time said he had visited Moscow but Russia again denied it.


Soleimani's purported July visit to Moscow was widely seen as the first step in planning for a Russian military intervention in Syria that has reshaped the war and forged a new Iranian-Russian alliance in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Al-Araby al-Jadeed reported that Soleimani was hurt in mid-November when an anti-tank TOW missile hit the vehicle in which he was thought to be travelling in Syria's Aleppo province.

Iran later denied the commander had been hurt, but rumours of his injury - and even death - have persisted, reinforced by a cancellation of a public speech he was scheduled to give at Tehran's Beheshti University on December 7.

Soleimani has been subject to an international travel ban and asset freeze by the UN Security Council since 2007 for his alleged role in illicit arms trafficking and the smuggling of nuclear materials.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said Soleimani's earlier visit to Moscow violated the UN travel ban, which Russian diplomats had endorsed at the Security Council.

Soleimani has helped lead Iran's efforts to fight armed groups in Syria and neighbouring Iraq. He is thought to report directly to the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.


Last month, Putin met Khamenei in Tehran. Iranian officials described the two-hour meeting as "unprecedented in the history of both countries".

Once a reclusive figure directing covert operations abroad, Soleimani now enjoys almost celebrity status among supporters of Iran, with Iraqi fighters and Syrian soldiers posting selfies with him from the battlefield on social media.

He played a role in organising Iraqi militias to fight the Islamic State group after it captured large swathes of the country last year.

[Click to enlarge]