The Islamic Republic’s Quds Force deputy commander, Iraj Masjedi, said on Monday that Major General Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is “in good health” and continuing his duties.
Qaani had been out of contact since strikes on Beirut last week.
According to Iranian state media, during a ceremony in northern Tehran, Masjedi said, “He is in good health and is carrying out his activities. Some ask us to issue a statement. There is no need for this.”
This comes after media speculations that Qaani might have been killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern neighborhood of Dahiyeh, which was reported to have targeted senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine.
On October 6, Reuters, citing two senior Iranian security officials, reported that Qaani had gone missing following the Israeli strikes last week.
The report confirmed that Qaani had traveled to Lebanon after the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and was in the southern suburbs during the heavy airstrikes targeting Safieddine. However, he was not meeting him at the time.
Furthermore, the Iranian Students’ News Agency reported that a message from Qaani was conveyed to a conference in solidarity with Palestinian children held on Monday in Tehran, adding that the commander could not attend “due to his being in another important meeting.”
In 2020, Esmail Qaani was appointed as the new head of the IRGC Quds Force by Ali Khamenei following the assassination of his predecessor, Major General Qassem Soleimani, in a drone strike in Baghdad.
Source » iranwire