Iraq’s developments in the post-Soleimani era

The recent developments in Iraq and the pressure on the
forces of the resistance axis have made the empty place of the martyr Soleimani
increasingly palpable. Who will play the major role in the post-Soleimani era?.

General Ismail Qaani, the new commander of Quds Force, made
visits to Baghdad. Although the details of his meetings with politicians were
not disclosed, many experts and analysts speculate that the visits were aimed
to improve relations between the two countries (which have been damaged in recent
months by tensions in Iraq between the Popular Resistance Forces and the United
States). Other experts, such as Hisham al-Hashemi, a prominent Iraqi military
security expert, believe that Shamkhani's visit to Baghdad was to resolve some
of issues and disagreements that arose after Soleimani's martyrdom. It is
reported that the missile attacks by the Axis of Resistance forces against
American bases in Iraq are a source of great concern to many Iraqi officials.
In fact, there is an analysis that the Resistance Front was upset after
Soleimani’s martyrdom because Hajj Qassem had a deep knowledge from the region
and could communicate with different groups in Iraq and Syria.

The other fact that complicates matters in Iraq is the bad
economic situation, which has been exacerbated by the Coronavirus. The current
situation has enabled forces operating against Iran in Iraq to exploit
anti-Iranian sentiment in that country. Media propaganda intensified after the
martyrdom of Soleimani, and some Iraqi media published daily reports about the
Iraqi government's anger because presence of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in
Iraq.

Amidst all these challenges, establishing
relations with the Iraqi Shiite authorities and influential politicians in this
country could be the way to solve the problems, but this requires the Quds
Force to interact with the professional diplomats in the Iranian Foreign
Ministry. Many military and politicians believe that General Qaani will fill
the empty of Soleimani