Ismail Kahani, appointed by Khamenei to head Quds Force of Revolutionary Guards following the assassination of Baghdad, is his predecessor's generation • He fought Saddam Hussein's army, served in military intelligence and demonstrated absolute loyalty to the worldview, which sanctifies Iranian invaders across the Middle East

• New Revolutionary Guards Commander, Ismail Kaani // Photo: Reuters

• Mourning in Baghdad for Kassim Suleimani's liquidation // Photo: AP

• Revolutionary Guards fighters march in Tehran // Photo: AP

Iran's top leader Ali Khamenei on Friday announced the appointment of Qasim Suleiman Revolutionary Guards force commander Kassas Suleimani, who was assassinated tonight in a US attack.

The choice of Ismail Kaani, Suleimani's deputy for more than two decades, is not surprising, showing mainly a complete commitment to his path and the worldview of the leader who found his death near Baghdad International Airport.

Ismail Qaani belongs to that generation of young leaders who asked for prominence after the Iran-Iraq war, the first military challenge of the Islamic regime in Tehran. Unlike Sulaimani, who came from a harsh background today, Kaani was born in 1957 in the city of Mashhad, the second largest city in Iran, to a middle-class family. Like most of those serving in Quds Force, the secret foreign arm of the Revolutionary Guards, little is known about Kanye's personal life.

Kaani was a young officer at the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War in 1980. During the eight years of the war, he demonstrated exceptional commanding ability and advanced to the division commander, from there to the division commander. After the war he served in the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Unit. His promotion there was also meteoric.

In 1998, he was appointed Deputy Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards, along with the appointment of Kassem Suleimani as commander-in-chief. The two have held their positions for over two decades. While Suleimani became an icon, a figure revered all over the Shi'ite world, Kaani contented himself with the work of the Shadows and few in public speaking.

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In 2012, Kaney's name was added to the United States wanted list and sanctions list. All of his overseas assets have been frozen by the United States. According to the US Treasury, Kaani was in charge of the money transfers and weapons to Middle East Shiite terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah, Houthi insurgents in Yemen and Iraqi Shia militias.

Kaani provided a rare glimpse of his worldview with a rare statement he gave to Revolutionary Guards in 2017. Kaani expressed utter indifference to the war in the United States and even bragged that: "In the war with the Americans, they lost more people than we lost."

While Kaani has very large shoes to replace the man dubbed the "living martyr" and a hero of a hero among Iranian supporters throughout the Middle East, his choice, the man who stood for Sulayani for twenty years, shows most of Tehran's intention to continue on his path.