Iran's Quds Force chief Qaani attends general's funeral
Iranian commander Esmail Qaani on Tuesday appeared in public after weeks of absence to attend the funeral ceremony for general Abbas Nilforoushan, who was killed last month in Lebanon.
Nilforoushan, a general in Iran's Revolutionary Guard, was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut alongside Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
The funeral procession for the slain Iranian general began at the Imam Hossein Square in central Tehran on Tuesday morning, according to a live broadcast on state television.
Qaani - who heads the Quds Force, the Revolutionary Guard's foreign operations arm - had disappeared from public view and was rumoured in some media to have been targeted in an Israeli strike on Lebanon or to have suffered a heart attack.
However, Middle East Eye exclusively reported last week that he was alive and unhurt.
Sources told MEE Qaani was instead placed under guard and questioned as Iran investigates major security breaches.
He appeared Tuesday at the funeral, clad in the Guard's green military uniform.
Video on Iranian television of IRGC Quds Force commander Ismail Qaani at memorial for deceased Abbas Niloforoshan killed by an Israeli strike in Lebanon.
— Murtaza Hussain (@MazMHussain) October 15, 2024
This is amid recent rumors and ostensible reporting that he’d been either killed, arrested, or had a heart attack. pic.twitter.com/qiL5EbfyUy
Reporting by MEE and AFP