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Live Blog Update| Iran Tensions

Esmail Ghaani named new Quds force leader

Brigadier General Esmail Ghaani, the Quds force's deputy leader, has been named as Soleimani's replacement by Iran's supreme leader.

The Quds forces' programme "will be unchanged from the time of his predecessor", Ali Khameini said in a statement carried by Iranian state news.

That makes Ghaani, who has been deputy head since 1997, the continuity candidate, and he will be seeking to continue Soleimani's legacy of expanding Iranian influence and undermining Tehran's allies abroad.