Ahmad Vahidi has survived decades of war, sanctions and scandal. That makes him a dangerous operator for Trump, Israel and the United States to underestimate.

Ahmad Vahidi is not a newcomer to Iran’s revolutionary establishment. He is one of the men who helped build it.

Now, after decades spent moving through Iran’s military, intelligence and political machinery, Vahidi has reached the top of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — the organization that has become the backbone of the Islamic Republic’s military power and its campaign against the United States and Israel.

That should get Washington and Jerusalem’s attention.

Vahidi has spent most of his adult life inside Iran’s security establishment. He joined the newly created IRGC in 1979, quickly rose through its intelligence ranks and became its first commander of the Quds Force in 1988. The force would later become Iran’s principal instrument for supporting militant groups and projecting power across the Middle East.

Qassem Soleimani ultimately turned the Quds Force into a household name. But Vahidi helped establish the machinery that Soleimani inherited.

A Nasty Career Built on Survival

Vahidi’s record is remarkable less for any single triumph than for his ability to survive almost everything that has threatened Iran’s senior security officials.

He weathered internal disputes, international investigations, sanctions, political controversy and accusations connected to some of the regime’s most sensitive operations.

In 2009, then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appointed him defense minister despite an outstanding INTERPOL Red........

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