With the announcement that documents pertaining to the plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington have been submitted to the United Nations and submission of documents implicating Iran s Ghods force in the plan to the Security Council, the name of the commander of the Ghods force, Ghasem Soleimani is again the focus of media attention, both in Iran and internationally. Some foreign media have even called him the number two man in the Islamic Republic of Iran after supreme leader ayatollah Khamenei.

U.S. officials say Iran is dispatching increasing numbers of trainers and advisers - including members of its elite Quds Force - into Syria to help crush anti-government demonstrations that are threatening to topple Iran's most important ally in the region.

For Iran, the ouster of President Bashar Assad in Syria would arguably be the most significant setback since the end of its eight-year war with Iraq in 1988 and possibly even since its 1979 revolution. Regime change would be a major blow for both Iran s ideological and foreign policy goals.

The Iranian opposition has reported the deployment of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to Syria to defend the regime of President Bashar Assad.