WEBDESK: Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, has reappeared in Tehran, dispelling widespread reports from Israeli and Indian media that claimed he had been killed in an Israeli strike earlier this month.
A video clip released by Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency and shared by Al Jazeera Arabic shows a man resembling General Qaani engaging with people during a victory rally in central Tehran.
The appearance was made during public celebrations marking what the government called a “strategic victory.”
Al Jazeera said in an X post “The commander of the Quds Force, affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, appears at celebrations in central Tehran following claims of his assassination in Israeli attacks, marking his second appearance after similar rumors last year.”
قائد فيلق القدس التابع للحرس الثوري الإيراني يظهر في احتفالات وسط طهران بعد مزاعم اغتياله بهجمات إسرائيلية، وهو الظهور الثاني له عقب شائعات مماثلة العام الماضي pic.twitter.com/vzPxzSqs4v
— قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) June 26, 2025
General Qaani, Commander of IRGC Quds Force, seen among Tehran’s rally attendees today following the last night attack on the US Al Udeid Airbase in Qatar.#Iran pic.twitter.com/bOvPaY3SAt
— Iran Nuances (@IranNuances) June 24, 2025
A similar video, posted by Iran’s state broadcaster Press TV, also shows Qaani attending the rally.
The footage is being widely interpreted as a rebuttal to recent claims about his death.
Qaani took over as the head of the Quds Force after the 2020 assassination of General Qassem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Iraq.
On June 13, Israeli media claimed that Iran’s top military leadership, including Qaani, had been killed in a targeted Israeli strike.
The claim was echoed on Indian media bases with the sources given as anonymous intelligence agencies and unconfirmed reports.
It is notable that, the Iranian government did not clarify on the reports but the government made speculations at that time.
This is not the first time it has been claimed that Qaani was killed in a different Israeli raid in Lebanon together with Hezbollah officials, the claim being made earlier in the year.
The new footage is showing to put not only those rumors to bed at least in the near future.
But prior to this many seemed to celebrate the “elimination” of Brigadier General Esmail Qaani.
Esmail Qaani has been ELIMINATED.✅
— Eli Afriat 🇮🇱🎗 (@EliAfriatISR) June 13, 2025
Thank you for your service.😂 pic.twitter.com/Jrla9iDh93
Israeli, Indian media: Where rumors are news, facts come last
Indian media has a track record of misreporting, notably in conflict zones like Pahalgam and during operations such as “Operation Sindoor,” where it allegedly claimed to have destroyed the Karachi and Lahore ports and invaded Pakistan with the ease of a Bollywood movie.
Fun fact: Lahore is landlocked, unless the Arabian Sea moved overnight.
On the other hand, military censorship and the spread of misinformation is a regular practice found in Israeli and Indian media reports.
Strict regulations, including new rules on reporting Iranian strikes and a notable increase in censor interventions, have restricted journalists’ ability to report freely.
This pattern is clearly visible in the biased coverage and propagating narratives that are constantly being pushed by these sources, which downplays Palestinian suffering, and lacks crucial historical context.
In each of these examples, sensationalist headlines, and unverified point of view, were spread including many times increasing the state version with no independent confirmation.
This trend has brought in serious apprehension towards those issues relating to integrity in journalism when such stories sway the way people think and policy making.
Read more: India’s military ambitions grow: Submarine cooperation with South Africa raises eyebrows
