Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian military commander killed in a U.S. drone strike on Jan. 3 in Baghdad, had sought to bring stability to the Middle East, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday. “Commander Soleimani was a man who was pursuing stability and calm in the region,” Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on state television. Rouhani, citing the missile strike Iran carried out against a U.S. base in Iraq in retaliation for Soleimani’s death, said the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile program was not intended for attacks on neighboring countries – which include arch regional adversary Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies.
