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Exclusive: Quds Force commander visited Moscow, met Russian leaders in defiance of sanctions
Fox News ^ | 08/06/2015 | By Jennifer Griffin, Lucas Tomlinson

Posted on 08/06/2015 1:40:08 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

The shadowy Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani recently visited Moscow to meet with senior Russian leaders, according to two Western intelligence sources, despite a travel ban and U.N. Security Council resolutions barring him from leaving Iran.

On July 24, one week before State Secretary John Kerry testified to Senate Armed Services Committee and faced questions about the newly struck nuclear deal, Soleimani arrived in Moscow for meetings with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and President Vladimir Putin. It was not immediately clear what the Iranian leader discussed, but the revelation comes as the United Nations and European Union arms embargo against Iran is slated to be lifted in five years as part of the comprehensive nuclear agreement announced in July from Vienna.

Soleimani was first designated a terrorist and sanctioned by the U.S. in 2005 for his role as a supporter of terrorism. In October 2011, the U.S. Treasury Department tied Soleimani to the failed Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States at a popular restaurant in Washington, D.C. The Quds Force is the special forces external wing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, responsible for supporting terrorist proxies across the Middle East. It reports directly to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Soleimani is increasingly being recognized as a key player and point person as Iranian influence in the region grows, despite assurances from Kerry and others that Soleimani and the Quds Force will continue to face sanctions from the U.S. Treasury after U.N. sanctions are lifted against Soleimani as part of the nuclear deal.

Soleimani arrived in Moscow on Air Iran flight #5130, a commercial flight from Tehran, at 6:50 a.m. on July 24, a Friday. He left Moscow the following Sunday, July 26, at 10:25 p.m. on flight #5120, according to Western intelligence sources.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia; Syria; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 2005; 2011; 201110; 201507; 20150724; 20150726; assassinationplots; bombplots; cafemilan; cafemilano; cafemilanoplot; cafemilanplot; djibouti; eritrea; finalirandeal; gwot; hamas; hassannasrallah; hezbollah; iran; irandeal; iraq; johnkerry; jordan; kerry; lebanon; moscow; nucleardeal; obamalegacy; putin; putinsbuttboys; qasemsoleimani; qassemsoleimani; quds; qudsdforce; qudsforce; revolutionaryguards; russia; saudiambassador; shoigu; soleimani; sudan; syria; whatwashisfrnick; yemen

1 posted on 08/06/2015 1:40:09 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

But hey, Putin is a conservative Russian, an enemy to Islamic terror and to gays everywhere. How could this happen?


2 posted on 08/06/2015 1:48:24 PM PDT by Greetings_Puny_Humans (I mostly come out at night... mostly.)
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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans

Well, what to say... The Ayatollah’s are against gay marriage too...

I guess to libs, that makes Conservatives similar to Putin and the Ayatollahs... ( that’s how they reason anyway ).


3 posted on 08/06/2015 1:49:57 PM PDT by SeekAndFind (qu)
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To: SeekAndFind

The Quds Force? As is Al Quds, the Islamic name for JERUSALEM??


4 posted on 08/06/2015 2:23:54 PM PDT by originalbuckeye ("In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell)
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