Six Years After the Soleimani Strike, a Reality Check on the Quds Force

On January 3, 2020, a U.S. drone strike killed Qassem Soleimani, the Quds Force commander who had come to embody Iran’s regional playbook — part war planner, part power broker, part political enforcer.

Six years later, the empire he helped build has not only survived but expanded, tightening its networks of proxy allies and burrowing deeper into Iran’s state and economy.

But without Soleimani’s central authority, the Quds Force is showing signs of drift and internal strain, revealing vulnerabilities within one of Tehran’s most consequential instruments of power.