Qassem Soleimani was a senior Iranian military commander, before his execution by American drones. The story of Iran's Islamic republic is fascinating, and sometimes frightening, but this programme is somewhat too prone to promoting him as an international man of mystery, even though its final interviewee essentially makes the case he was just a man, doing what he thought was right for his country, however strongly we may disagree. Consistent with this thesis, it would be hard to argue his death has much changed the world for better or for worst: only rarely do men rarely control the tides of history, which rather create their own heroes and villains.
