Iranian General Is Seen in State Media After Questions Over His Whereabouts

Brig. Gen. Esmail Ghaani, commander of the elite Quds Force, appeared in video footage on Tuesday as Tehran braces for a possible counterstrike by Israel

By Qasim Nauman

Brig. Gen. Esmail Ghaani, the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, appeared in video footage broadcast by Iranian state news media on Tuesday after days of speculation about his whereabouts.

The Quds Force is the branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps that conducts external operations, including the oversight of the militant groups that Iran supports, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen and militia groups in Iraq and Syria. Questions about the whereabouts of General Ghaani, 67, emerged as Iran braced for a potential counterstrike after it fired a barrage of missiles at Israel two weeks ago.

Before the video footage was broadcast on Tuesday, General Ghaani was last seen in Tehran two days after Israel killed the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, in Lebanon, according to photos published by Iranian news media.

According to IRNA, an Iranian state news agency, General Ghaani was at a ceremony at an airport in Tehran in the early hours of Tuesday to receive the body of Maj. Gen. Abbas Nilforoushan, a senior Iranian commander who was killed in the strike on Mr. Nasrallah.

Later on Tuesday morning, General Ghaani was present at a public funeral for General Nilforoushan in Tehran, according to the video footage broadcast by Iranian state media.

General Ghaani became the head of the Quds Force after the United States killed its previous commander, Gen. Qassem Suleimani, in Iraq in 2020.