Watch: Iran's Quds Force commander appears in Tehran after assassination reports

TEHRAN: Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, appeared alive and well at a victory celebration in Tehran on Tuesday, countering reports of his death, local media confirmed.

Tasnim News Agency shared a video of Qaani among the crowd, stating on X, “Commander Qaani attends today’s gathering of the people of Tehran following Operation Divine Victory.”

State-run Press TV also aired the footage, noting that Qaani was “warmly received by a jubilant crowd” celebrating Iran’s claimed triumph over Israel.

Earlier this month, The New York Times reported Qaani’s death in Israeli airstrikes targeting Iranian military and nuclear sites since June 13, amid Israel’s allegations of Iran’s nuclear weapon ambitions, which Tehran strongly denies.

Iran retaliated with missile and drone strikes, while the US bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities on Sunday.

After 12 days of intense aerial clashes, US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire overnight, halting the conflict between the two regional rivals.

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In a similar incident, on October 7, 2024, two senior Iranian security officials told Reuters, that Iran’s Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani not been heard from since Israeli strikes on Beirut.

Qaani travelled to Lebanon after the killing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike.

Here are some facts about Qaani:

– Tehran named Qaani the head of the Revolutionary Guards Corps’ overseas military-intelligence service after the United States assassinated his predecessor Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.

– Part of Qaani’s task in that post has been to manage Tehran’s paramilitary allies across the Middle East, as well as in other regions around the world.

– According to people familiar with both Qaani and Soleimani, as well as Western military and political analysts, Qaani has never commanded the same respect as his predecessor Soleimani or maintained the same close relationships among Iran’s allies in the Arab world.