Who is the IRGC’s Missing Commander: Esmail Qaani?

(New York, NY) – Esmail Qaani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force (IRGC QF) – which leads and coordinates Tehran’s terror proxy network – has disappeared from the public eye since the strike that eliminated the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council Hashem Safieddine, who was thought to be the successor to its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Qaani was notably absent from events he was expected to attend, including Friday Prayers led by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and IRGC ceremonies.  

Despite claims from IRGC officials that he is alive, Qaani’s disappearance has prompted speculation that he could have been unexpectedly eliminated in the strike, detained by the IRGC’s counterintelligence organization due to possible foreign collusion over the deaths of Hezbollah’s senior leadership, or have gone into hiding to avoid being targeted in further operations. Tehran’s silence over Qaani’s vanishing has been striking, as it in the past provided proof of life via photo or video whenever there were rumors about the death of an IRGC commander. There are reports from Tehran, however, that Qaani will receive the Fath Medal from the supreme leader in the coming days. Should Qaani be deceased or ousted from the IRGC-QF, Mohahmmad Reza Fallahzadeh, deputy commander of the IRGC-QF, will be the most likely candidate to succeed him. 

Who is the IRGC’s missing commander? What implications would his elimination or ouster from the Guard have for Iran’s proxy terror network? Who is Fallahzadeh? UANI’s profiles of Esmail Qaani and Mohammad Reza Fallahzadeh answer these key questions at this critical juncture.

To read UANI’s profile of Esmail Qaani, please click here. 

To read UANI’s profile of Mohammad Reza Fallahzadeh, please click here.