Iran’s Quds Force chief Esmail Qaani confirmed alive despite death reports

Iran's Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani is believed to be alive, after videos surfaced on social media showing him attending a rally in Tehran on Tuesday. The event celebrated Iran’s missile strike on US assets in Qatar.

This comes following a report by The New York Times on Friday, which cited an Iranian source claiming that Qaani had been killed in an Israeli strike inside Iran.

Qaani took over as commander of the Quds Force after the assassination of his predecessor, Qasem Soleimani, in a targeted U.S. operation in 2020.

Qaani's location was reportedly unknown as of October 2024, after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed Hashem Safieddine, the presumed successor to Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. According to Middle East Eye, Qaani was alive but and he, along with his team, was placed under investigation in Iran amid reports of security breaches within the Islamic Republic.

“Iranians have serious suspicions that Israelis have infiltrated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, particularly those involved in Lebanon. As a result, everyone is currently under investigation,” a source told Middle East Eye at the time.

Furthermore, Israeli media, citing Sky News, reported in October that Qaani had suffered a heart attack during interrogation.