Iran will need time to replace Soleimani, says former Israel national security adviser

“They will have to cancel or to postpone some of the operations that they had in mind,” said Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror.

By World Israel News Staff 

A former Israeli national security adviser says that Iran will not be able to replace Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani anytime soon. The force is considered by Tehran as an elite unit of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

“It will take the Iranians some time at least to build a replacement for him,” said Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror, who currently serves as a distinguished fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA). He made the assessment in an article in the New York Times, cited on the JINSA website.

General Esmail Ghaani, who was Soleimani’s longtime deputy, was named his successor as Quds Force commander in the aftermath of Friday’s targeted killing carried out by the U.S. military.

However, during a phone briefing organized by JINSA on Monday, Amidror stressed that “Soleimani was very centralized and he held details for so many operations,” reports The Jerusalem Post. “It will take time for his deputy to go and enter his shoes,” he said, according to the Israeli newspaper.

“They will have to cancel or to postpone some of the operations that they had in mind,” said the former Israeli national security adviser.

He added, however, that though there could be “a bit of hesitation in the first few months… it will not change the policy of the Iranians, and the Iranians will continue to push from Iraq into Syria.”

He reportedly said during the briefing that Iranian leaders are not in a hurry to retaliate for Soleimani’s killing.

He predicted that there will be a debate within the Islamic Republic’s leadership “between those who are more revenge-driven and those who will hesitate because they don’t want to go for another war with America,” according to the newspaper report.