As tensions continue to increase in the Arabian Gulf, Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is relying on a newly elevated commander versed in the kind of psychological warfare that Tehran has pursued while attempting to build an aura of invincibility around its military and militia proxies.
Brigadier General Hossein Salami was appointed in April this year to head the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution, better known as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), elite units responsible for the vaguely defined task of protecting and furthering the 1979 Islamic revolution now at the forefront of tensions with the United States.
His career, like that of many in Iran’s power circles, was shaped by the war with Iraq in the 1980s, a conflict whose memory contributes to Iran’s confident rhetoric but does not make its military commanders invincible.
While domestic factors may have influenced Gen Salami’s appointment, he made his mark internationally when the IRGC downed a US surveillance drone last week. Gen Salami said the downing signalled “decisive and knockout reactions to aggression”. A few weeks before he declared Iran an “absolute” regional power and predicted all-out conflict with the United States before asserting that Iran does not want war.
His anti-US tirades are even more fervent than those of his ideological peers and his earlier career highlights show ability to exploit relatively minor incidents to full effect .
Gen Salami was deputy commander of the IRGC in 2016 when the guards detained for 15 hours eight US sailors whose boat had strayed into Iranian waters, Washington said after mechanical failure. Gen Salami was reported as saying that the sailors were crying when they were captured. A photo from the time shows Gen Salami smiling as Ayatollah Khamenei congratulated him for detaining the sailors.
In 2007, the IRGC detained 15 members of the British Royal Navy in the Shatt Al Arab waterway separating Iraq and Iran and held them for 15 days. It was another incident Iran portrayed as indicative of its military prowess.
Born in 1960 in the Esfahan region, Gen Salami joined the IRGC early in the Iraq-Iran war, when he was a college student. He rose through the ranks, becoming deputy commander around a decade ago. He replaced major General Mohammad Ali Jafari in April, a day after the US designated the IRGC a foreign terrorist organisation.
Some Iran specialists argue that the IRGC overshadows the country’s military, pointing to the IRGC’s external division, the Al Quds force, which liaises with Shi’ite militias in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon as well as with the Hamas movement and Islamic Jihad in Gaza. Qassem Suleimani, head of Al Quds force, commanded troops in the war with Iraq. Ayatollah Khamenei was for most of the conflict president and Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s current president, was a senior war planner.
The war ended in a stalemate but it shaped the psyches of the two countries, which both ignored the brutalities they had dealt each other. While Iran, alongside Iraq’s Kurd’s in the north, bore the brunt of Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons programme, civilians were a target on both sides.
Mehdi Khalaji, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said in a research note last month that Gen Salami will act as an enforcer of Ayatollah Khamenei’s so called resistance policy, which relies on “innovatively circumventing economic sanctions, developing Iran’s missile programme and maintaining the regime’s defiant regional policy”.
“Compared to his ousted predecessor, Salami is both ideologically closer to Khamenei and more hard-line in his views,” Mr Khalaji said.
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday
Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)
Valencia v Levante (midnight)
Saturday
Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)
Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)
Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)
Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)
Sunday
Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)
Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Yuval Noah Harari, Jonathan Cape
PROFILE OF STARZPLAY
Date started: 2014
Founders: Maaz Sheikh, Danny Bates
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment/Streaming Video On Demand
Number of employees: 125
Investors/Investment amount: $125 million. Major investors include Starz/Lionsgate, State Street, SEQ and Delta Partners
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Carzaty%2C%20now%20Kavak%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ELaunch%20year%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ECarzaty%20launched%20in%202018%2C%20Kavak%20in%20the%20GCC%20launched%20in%202022%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20140%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Automotive%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ECarzaty%20raised%20%246m%20in%20equity%20and%20%244m%20in%20debt%3B%20Kavak%20plans%20%24130m%20investment%20in%20the%20GCC%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
List of alleged parties
May 12, 2020: PM and his wife Carrie attend 'work meeting' with at least 17 staff
May 20, 2020: They attend 'bring your own booze party'
Nov 27, 2020: PM gives speech at leaving party for his staff
Dec 10, 2020: Staff party held by then-education secretary Gavin Williamson
Dec 13, 2020: PM and his wife throw a party
Dec 14, 2020: London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey holds staff event at Conservative Party headquarters
Dec 15, 2020: PM takes part in a staff quiz
Dec 18, 2020: Downing Street Christmas party
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Hydrogen: Market potential
Hydrogen has an estimated $11 trillion market potential, according to Bank of America Securities and is expected to generate $2.5tn in direct revenues and $11tn of indirect infrastructure by 2050 as its production increases six-fold.
"We believe we are reaching the point of harnessing the element that comprises 90 per cent of the universe, effectively and economically,” the bank said in a recent report.
Falling costs of renewable energy and electrolysers used in green hydrogen production is one of the main catalysts for the increasingly bullish sentiment over the element.
The cost of electrolysers used in green hydrogen production has halved over the last five years and will fall to 60 to 90 per cent by the end of the decade, acceding to Haim Israel, equity strategist at Merrill Lynch. A global focus on decarbonisation and sustainability is also a big driver in its development.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (c), Chamani Senevirathne (vc), Subha Srinivasan, NIsha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Esha Oza, Ishani Senevirathne, Heena Hotchandani, Keveesha Kumari, Judith Cleetus, Chavi Bhatt, Namita D’Souza.
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
