Ghaani already has several decades worth of blood on his hands, from repressing the Iranian people and aggressively expanding the regime’s control in the region, so he was the obvious pick for the nation’s number one terrorist.

The 62-year-old, who served as Soleimani’s deputy for the past 20 years, rose quickly through the ranks after helping to crush the Kurdish uprising following the fall of the shah in 1979.

His main role in the Quds force was to bolster terrorist militias in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Africa. He was placed on America’s terrorism blacklist in 2012 after sending 13 shipping containers filled with 107mm Katyusha rockets, rifle ammunition, and other weapons to the Gambia.

Since then, his focus turned to the Middle East where he has:

organized the genocide of Sunni Muslims in al-Anbar province, Iraq

boasted of his connection to the Houthi rebels in Yemen

assumed command of Iran’s proxy forces in Aleppo, Syria, to aid the Bashar Assad dictatorship in massacring its own civilians

Now, Ghaani has met with Iran-backed Hamas terror group’s chief Ismail Haniyeh and his deputy Saleh al-Arouri. He’s also vowed “harsh revenge” for Soleimani’s death.

Ghaani said: “We promise to continue down the martyr Soleimani’s path as firmly as before with the help of God and in return for his martyrdom we aim to get rid of America from the region.”

Struan Stevenson, the Coordinator of the Campaign for Iran Change, wrote: “Ghaani’s tough talk and his bloodstained past may serve to bolster his Mafia credentials in the eyes of Iran’s tyrannical dictators, but it will do little to dent the determination of the Islamic Republic’s 80 million, careworn and struggling population, who have taken to the streets in the hundreds of thousands in recent weeks in protest of the venal corruption of the ruling mullahs and their wanton spending on conflict and terror.”

Stevenson, a former member of the European Parliament, explained that Soleimani had enthusiastically implemented the crackdown on these protests that left at least 1,500 young demonstrators dead, 4,000 wounded, and 12,000 arrested.

He wrote: “The courageous People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK) resistance units, who have played a central role in organizing the uprising, will not be cowed by Ghaani’s arrival on the scene. Soleimani’s blood-spattered demise should act as a warning to Ghaani that like the Mafia godfathers of old, there is no impunity for the perpetrators of evil.”