Mick Hartley

From the Times of Israel:

Rumors have continued to swirl in recent days over the status of Esmail Qaani, the head of Iran’s extraterritorial Quds Force who hasn’t been seen in public for several weeks.

Qaani has been conspicuously absent since he traveled to Beirut two days after the massive Israeli airstrike late last month that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and several other top commanders, including an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps deputy commander.

After unconfirmed reports that he had been killed in a subsequent Israeli strike in Beirut alongside a top Hezbollah leader, claims have now surfaced on Arabic and regional media that while he is alive, Qaani is being investigated by the IRGC, of which his Quds Force is part, on suspicion of involvement in Israeli intelligence infiltration and of playing a part in Israel’s assassination late last month of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah….

On Thursday, Sky News Arabic reported that Qaani, in the course of interrogations by the IRGC, had a heart attack and was rushed to a hospital. The report also said Qaani’s chief of staff, Ehsan Shafiqi, is under scrutiny.

All the reports remain unconfirmed, and none could be independently verified.

Senior Iranians, at the heart of the regime, secretly working with Israel? Or Tehran getting paranoid and flailing around to find a scapegoat for the collapse of their precious Hezbollah?