Reports: Commander of the Iranian Quds Force Esmail Qaani is under house arrest
The commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Esmail Qaani, is being interrogated by Iranian authorities in the case of the hack that led to the Israeli assassination of the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah.
After reports from Iran that he was in good health and would soon receive a medal from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, sources revealed that Qaani was alive and unharmed, but they pointed to serious information about his security situation.
According to the Middle East Eye website, which obtained information from 10 Iranian, Iraqi and Lebanese sources, including prominent Shiite figures and sources close to Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guards, said that since September 27, the Guards have opened investigations into how Israel was able to penetrate Hezbollah’s senior leadership and determine the place and time to find Nasrallah.
The sources told the Middle East Eye website that Qaani is one of the most senior generals in Iran, and his team is currently under investigation, while investigators search for answers.
On the other hand, Iranian sources confirmed that Qaani suffered a heart attack and was transferred to the hospital while being investigated about being infiltrated by Mossad after his office chief, Ehsan Shafiqi, was suspected of communicating with Israel, amidst a state of great concern about the extent of Mossad’s infiltration within the Iranian leadership pyramid.
The sources said that investigations with Qaani began after his office chief was imprisoned.
Suspicions that senior Iranian leaders were at risk were heightened when a meeting of Hezbollah’s Shura Council, chaired by Nasrallah’s likely successor, Hashem Safieddine, was attacked on October 4, Qaani was expected to attend the meeting but apologized and withdrew shortly before it began.
According to the information, Qaani arrived in Lebanon two days after Nasrallah’s assassination, accompanied by several Revolutionary Guard commanders and other figures to assess the situation on the ground, but after the attack on Safieddine, contact with him was cut off for two days, they added.
“The Iranians have serious suspicions that the Israelis have infiltrated the Revolutionary Guards, especially those operating in the Lebanese arena, so everyone is currently under investigation,” said a commander of an armed faction close to Iran.
Iranian investigations into the circumstances surrounding Nasrallah’s assassination have also focused on the recent movements of Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, the Quds Force commander in Lebanon and Syria who was killed alongside the Hezbollah leader.
Two sources close to Hezbollah and Iraqi sources said Nasrallah had been outside Beirut’s southern suburbs the night before he was killed, but had returned to the area to meet with Nilforoushan and several other Hezbollah leaders in the group’s usual fortified operations room.
Nilforoushan, who had flown into Beirut that evening from Tehran, was taken directly from the plane to the operations room under the residential neighborhood of southern suburb in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
He arrived there before Nasrallah, but the strike occurred shortly after Nasrallah entered the room.
The breach was 100% Iranian, a source close to Hezbollah told Middle East Eye.
