Middle East Eye reported last week that Qaani was alive and unhurt but under guard and being questioned about apparent security breaches surrounding the killing of Nasrallah.
Middle East Eye sources say Iranian authorities have serious suspicions about a major security breach in Qaani’s office, though none of MEE’s sources suggested Qaani was involved. Iranian authorities have not commented on reports that Qaani was questioned.
(October 2, 2024)
Nasrallah‘s assassination followed two weeks of precise Israeli strikes that have destroyed weapons sites, eliminated half of Hezbollah‘s leadership council and decimated its top military command.
On Thursday, Iranian sources revealed that the commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Esmail Qaani, is under investigation on suspicion of espionage, after his chief of staff, Ehsan Shafiqi, was suspected of collaborating with Israel.
Nilforoushan, who had flown into Beirut that evening from Tehran, was taken directly from the plane to the operations room beneath the residential neighbourhood of Haret Hreik, the sources said. He arrived there before Nasrallah.
The strike that targeted the meeting took place shortly after Nasrallah entered the room, the sources said.
“The breach was 100 percent Iranian and there is no question about this part,” a source close to Hezbollah told MEE.
Iranian state media announced Nilforoushan’s death as a “martyr” who died alongside Nasrallah.
Sources close to Hezbollah told MEE that Qaani was in Lebanon and had been expected to attend the Shura Council meeting at Safieddine‘s invitation on the day of the air strike.
But Qaani apologised and backed out of the meeting shortly before it began, they said.
)October 3, 2024)
The revelation from Bou Habib could provide insight into how Israel killed Nasrallah, who has survived multiple Israeli assassination attempts over the decades.
Another report from Reuters published on Wednesday said that Iran‘s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei sent a messenger to warn Nasrallah that Israel was planning to assassinate him. That messenger, senior Iranian commander Abbas Nilforoushan, was also killed in the Israeli strike on Friday 27 September.