TEHRAN – Reports circulating on certain social media accounts linked to the Israeli regime alleging the assassination of Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)’s Quds Force Brigadier General Esmaeil Qaani have been categorically denied.

According to informed sources talking to Tasnim News Agency, these baseless claims are part of a recurring pattern by Israeli-affiliated networks that aim to spread disinformation and conduct psychological operations. Since the beginning of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, the Israeli regime has repeatedly circulated false rumors about assassination attempts against General Qaani.

One such account, allegedly affiliated with Mossad and known as “Terror Alarm,” routinely posts a mixture of false and true information online. Its activities are widely viewed as part of Mossad’s psychological warfare efforts, rather than genuine news reporting. The account has published multiple false reports of assassinations so far.

In a recent interview, General Qaani himself dismissed such rumors, saying, “The Zionist regime spreads reports about my assassination so that my friends become worried and try to contact me — allowing them (Zionists) to determine my exact location.”

Brigadier General Esmail Qaani was first reported to have been killed during Israel’s airstrike on a residential building in southern Beirut, which claimed the life of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyad Hassan Nasrallah on September 27th, 2024. The IRGC confirmed that one of its top commanders, Brigadier General Abbas Nilforooshan, was also martyred during the attack. 

After the bodies of the victims of the Israeli assault were recovered and identified, Western media outlets engaged in a new wave of disinformation. They claimed that Qaani had been gravely injured in the attack but managed to survive. This fabrication was then reinforced by the claim that the Quds Force commander returned to Tehran aboard the plane of Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who had made a brief trip to Beirut on October 4th. 

When a high-ranking IRGC official finally addressed the rumors surrounding Qaani's health, flatly denying his martyrdom or injury, the Western media machine was forced to invent yet another lie. This time, the fabricated story came from the Middle East Eye, a UK-based news website reportedly funded by the Qatari government. 

An Iraqi journalist, well-known for her hostile stance towards the Resistance, reported on October 10th that “ten sources in Tehran, Beirut, and Baghdad” had told MEE that Qaani was “under guard” and “being questioned” for his involvement in the “intelligence breach” allowing Israel to assassinate Nasrallah. Other outlets took a step further in their outlandish lies, claiming General Qaani had suffered a “heart attack” during interrogation. 

But the commander who had been declared dead, injured, and arrested within a mere two weeks, made a public appearance. Qaani joined his IRGC colleagues and other Iranian officials at the funeral ceremony for General Nilforooshan, looking completely unscathed and at ease. He was captured on film praying quietly and engaging in conversations with fellow attendees, contradicting any claim put forth by Western media in the past days.