Who rules Iraq? His name is Gen. Qassem Suleimani, the head of Iran’s al-Quds Force, according to an article published July 28 in the Guardian.

“He is the most powerful man in Iraq without question,” said Mowaffak al-Rubaie, former Iraqi national security minister. “Nothing gets done without him.”

“The strength of the ties between Suleimani and Iraqi legislators has been revealed during weeks of interviews with key officials, including those who admire him and those who fear the man like no other,” writes the Guardian’s Martin Chulov.

Suleimani was put in charge of the al-Quds force shortly before the invasion of Iraq.

“His power comes straight from [Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah] Khamenei,” said Sunni deputy Iraqi Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq. “It bypasses everyone else, including Ahmadinejad.”

“All of the important people in Iraq go to see him,” he said. “People are mesmerized by him—they see him like an angel.”

“He has managed to form links with every single Shia group, on every level. Last year, in the meeting in Damascus that formed the current Iraqi government, he was present at the meeting along with leaders from Syria, Turkey, Iran and Hezbollah,” Chulov quotes an anonymous Iraqi member of parliament as saying. “He forced them all to change their mind and anoint Maliki as leader for a second term.”

This is just more proof of something the Trumpet has been predicting for years: that Iran would get control of Iraq.