The commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) special Quds Force unit, Brigadier General Ismail Kaani, is alive and being interrogated in Iran on suspicion of links to Israel, according to Middle East Eye, citing multiple sources.
In fact, according to Sky News, the man suffered a heart attack during interrogation. He also mentioned that Kaani’s chief of staff is also a suspect.
Officially, Qaani’s fate remains unknown after Israel’s Saturday attack in Beirut killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s supposed successor, Hashem Safieddin.
According to the report, the Islamic Republic is investigating security breaches, with sources in Beirut, Baghdad and Tehran telling the British news agency that both Qaani and his team are in solitary confinement while they are interrogated.
“The Iranians have serious suspicions that the Israelis have infiltrated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, especially those operating in Lebanon, which is why they are all currently under investigation,” a source told Middle East Eye.
The report also cited a source linked to Hezbollah who categorically stated that the breach was “100% Iranian.”
Kaani has not been seen in public since Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in late September, The Middle East Eye notes.
The sources cited by the agency noted that Qaani and other IRGC commanders arrived in Beirut two days after Nasrallah’s assassination for an on-site assessment of the situation.
After Safieddin was killed, however, communications were lost, sources noted.
The commander of an Iranian-backed armed faction told MEE that the assassination of Ismail Haniya, the political leader of Hamas, in Tehran in July fueled suspicions that there had been “infiltration” of Iranian security forces, and not a small . .
Haniya was killed in an explosion at a hostel allegedly controlled by the IRGC during a visit to Tehran to attend the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Massoud Pezhezkian.