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Iranian media reported Tuesday that Esmail Qaani, commander of Iran’s Quds Force, appeared in Tehran during celebrations marking what Iran described as its victory over Israel.
Mehr News Agency stated that Qaani is alive, countering earlier reports that he had been killed in an Israeli airstrike.
During the initial hours of Israel’s military campaign against Iran, known as Operation Rising Lion, the Israeli army had stated that a strike had killed Qaani. However, it later made no official claim of targeting him..
The New York Times, citing Iranian sources, reported that Qaani had died following Israeli airstrikes on June 13. In earlier coverage, the Times also reported that Qaani was among several Iranian military leaders killed, though it did not cite sources for that claim.
Israel launched airstrikes on several sites across Iran since June 13, including military and nuclear facilities, claiming that Tehran was on the verge of producing a nuclear bomb, a claim vehemently denied by Iran.
While Iran launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes, the U.S. joined the conflict by bombing three Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday.
After 12 days of aerial combat between the two regional arch-foes, US President Donald Trump announced overnight a ceasefire between Israel and Iran to end their conflict.
This is not the first time Qaani has been falsely reported dead in an Israeli strike. In October, reports widely circulated that he had been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut.
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Qaani succeeded Qasem Soleimani as commander of the Quds Force after Soleimani was killed in a targeted U.S. drone strike in 2020.
Often regarded as a lesser-known figure in both Western and Iranian media, Qaani followed a career path similar to that of his predecessor, Soleimani.
Qaani played a key role in suppressing uprisings after the Shah's overthrow and participated in the Iran-Iraq War, a conflict that claimed over a million lives. In 1988, he was appointed deputy commander of the 8th Operational Zone of the Revolutionary Guards Ground Forces, based in Mashhad.
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