Commander of Iran’s Quds Force ‘in good health’: IRGC
The top commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, Esmail Qa’ani, is in “good health,” the elite force’s deputy commander Iraj Masjedi said on Monday, after rumor circulated that he had been out of contact since Israel’s heavy strikes on Beirut last week.
“He is in good health and is carrying out his activities. Some ask us to issue a statement... there is no need for this,” Masjedi was quoted as saying by Iranian state media in reference to Qa’ani.
Reuters, citing unknown officials, reported on Sunday that Qa’ani, who traveled to Lebanon after the last month assassination of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike, has not been heard from since the onslaught on Beirut late last week that was reported to have targeted high-profile Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine.
On Monday, Iranian media also published a message from Qa’ani, which was conveyed to a conference in solidarity with Palestinian children in Tehran, adding that the commander could not attend “due to his being in another important meeting.”
In the message, Qa’ani extended his salutations to the participants of the event and offered his profound apologies for not being able to take part in the conference due to participation in another special meeting.
On January 3, 2020, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei appointed Esmail Qa’ani as the new head of the Islamic IRGC Quds Force following the US assassination of Major General Qassem Soleimani in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.