Iran’s increased meddling in the region and its military build-up at home reflects the control the regime’s hard-liners continue to exert over key state activities. Much of this activity, moreover, is being directed by the Quds Force, which reports directly to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader and the guardian of the country’s Islamic revolution. One of the central tenets of the Iranian revolution is to export its extreme brand of Shia theology throughout the region. And it is to this end that Suleimani, who has been described by the New Yorker as “the single most powerful operative in the idle East today”, conducts military and clandestine operations throughout the region.