ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
Updated:

Iran denied rumors that Iranian Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani was assassinated on Friday, according to IRGC media site Tasnim News Agency. 

The agency claimed that a social media account affiliated with Israel’s Mossad intelligence was linked to the rumor.

“The Zionist regime is publishing news of my assassination so that my friends will be worried and contact me so that they can find my exact location,” Qaani reportedly told the agency.

Past assassination rumors

An Iranian source told the New York Times in June, during the two week war between Israel and Iran, that Qaani had been assassinated. 

BRIGADIER-GENERAL Esmail Qaani, head of the IRGC Quds Force, attends the opening ceremony of Iran’s 12th parliament in Tehran, in May. Recent events show the deep deterioration of Iran’s internal security apparatus, says the writer.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL Esmail Qaani, head of the IRGC Quds Force, attends the opening ceremony of Iran’s 12th parliament in Tehran, in May. Recent events show the deep deterioration of Iran’s internal security apparatus, says the writer. (credit: West Asian News Agency/Reuters)

Videos posted after the New York Times report suggested the information was incorrect and Qaani survived the rounds of targeted airstrikes across Iran.

Qaani succeeded Qasem Soleimani as commander after the latter was killed in a targeted operation by the United States in 2020.

He went missing during strikes on Lebanon in 2024 but was later spotted at an airport in Iran.