Esmail Qaani | |
|---|---|
 Qaani in 2020 | |
| Born | (1957-08-08)8 August 1957 (age 67) Mashhad,Imperial State of Iran |
| Allegiance |  Islamic Republic of Iran |
| Service | Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps |
| Years of service | 1980–present |
| Rank | Brigadier General |
| Commands | Quds Force |
| Battles / wars | |
Esmail Qaani (also spelled asIsmail Qaani;[2][better source needed]Persian:اسماعیل قاآنی; born 8 August 1957)[3] is an Iranianbrigadier general in theIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and commander of itsQuds Force, a division primarily responsible forextraterritorial operations. TheSupreme Leader of Iran,Ali Khamenei, appointed Qaani to succeedQasem Soleimani as Commander of theQuds Force.[4][5][6]
In October 2024, Qaani was thought to have been killed or injured along withHashem Safieddine in theOctober 2024 Dahieh airstrike.[7][8][9] IRGC-affiliatedTasnim News Agency reported that he was about to be awarded theFath Medal.[10] However Qaani appeared at a ceremony forAbbas Nilforoushan later that month, according to theIslamic Republic of Iran News Network.[11]
Qaani was born inMashhad, a pilgrimage city and the second most populous in Iran. He joined theIranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in 1980.[12]
During theIran–Iraq War, Qaani led the 5th Nasr Brigade and 21st Imam Reza Armored Brigade.[13][14] In 1981, he received his military training inImam Ali Officers' Academy in Tehran.[15] The war was where he first met the late IRGC general, Qasem Soleimani, who was the commander of the41st Tharallah Division at the time.[16]
After the war, he joined the IRGC's Quds Force and started his activities inKhorasan Province, which bordersAfghanistan,Turkmenistan[12] andPakistan.[17] While Soleimani was stationed in the west, Qaani focused on Iranian priorities in the east, such as combating drug smuggling and supporting Afghanistan'sNorthern Alliance in its battles against theTaliban.[12]
He tackled nuclear armed Pakistan without stirring a full-frontal encounter.[18]
In 1997, Qaani was appointed deputy commander of the Quds Force, by chief commanderRahim Safavi, withQasem Soleimani as commander.[19] As Deputy, Qaani oversaw financial disbursements to paramilitary groups includingHezbollah. An arms shipment intended forthe Gambia was intercepted inNigeria in October 2010.[20]
After joining the Quds Force and starting military operations in eastern Iran that helped facilitate support for the Northern Alliance.[21][22]
In the 1990s, he fought against Afghan drug cartels on Iran's border with Afghanistan.[23]On 9 January 2018, Qaani visited a hospital that was being built with Iranian funds in Afghanistan as the envoy of Iran.[23]
On 25 May 2012, two villages in theHoula region of Syriawere attacked, resulting in the deaths of 108 people, including 49 children.United Nations investigators concluded that victims had been killed in "two bouts ofsummary executions" by pro-AssadShabiha.[24]U.S. State Department spokeswomanVictoria Nuland asserted on 29 May that Qaani alleged in an interview two days earlier that the Quds force helped train Shabiha forces responsible for the Houla attack.[25]
On 27 May, Qaani gave an interview toIranian Students News Agency (ISNA) stating, "Thanks to Iran's presence in Syria—physically and nonphysically—big massacres were prevented ... if the Islamic republic had not been present in Syria, the massacre of its people would have been multiplied."[26] The interview was deleted from ISNA's site within hours, but copies remained on other news outlets.[27]
According toMeir Javedanfar, an Iranian-Israeli expert on the Middle East, Qaani's statement was "the first time that an IRGC senior officer has admitted that the Quds force is operating in Syria."[28]Joint Chiefs-of-Staff ChairmanHassan Firouzabadi voiced onPress TV that "[w]e do not interfere in Syria's internal affairs but we support Syria as the resistance front againstIsrael because one of our principles is theissue ofPalestine. ... We have encouraged the country's government to implement reforms and listen to its people's demands."[25]
Prior to his appointment as Quds Force commander, Qaani was most famous for recruiting theLiwa Fatemiyoun andLiwa Zainebiyoun Shia fighters operating in Syria.[29]
Qaani has sharply criticizedU.S. involvement in the region, at times expressing bellicose rhetoric towardsPresidentDonald Trump and American nationals.[citation needed]
At a ceremony commemorating martyrs on 5 July 2017, he contended that the U.S. had futilely spent $6 trillion on Iraq and Afghanistan in attempts to attack Iran. He ended saying, "America has suffered more losses from us than we have suffered losses from them."[30][31]
On 13 October 2017, President Trump declined to recertify theJoint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), less formally known as the Iran nuclear deal.
On 22 January 2020, the U.S. targeted Qaani with a death threat, "if he followed a similar path by killing Americans."[32]Abbas Mousavi,Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran said: "These words are an official announcement and a clear unveiling of America's targeted and governmental terrorism".[32]
In January 2020, in the wake of thedrone strike that killed his predecessor Soleimani, Qaani stated onAl-Jazeera, "We tell everyone, be patient and see the dead bodies of Americans all over the Middle East."[33]
In January 2020,Leader of IranAli Khamenei appointed Qaani as Commander of theQuds Force after GeneralQasem Soleimani was killed bya targeted U.S. drone strike nearBaghdad International Airport.[6][4] Khamenei described him as "one of the most prominent military commanders during theSacred Defense".[34]
Saeid Golkar, a professor of political science at theUniversity of Tennessee in the US and a visiting fellow for Iran policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, believed that for Khamenei, it was important that the new commander had qualities such as "loyal" and "committed" to himself and the Revolutionary Guard. Also, he was familiar with the Quds Force and management of the forces and Iran's proxies. Qaani fit that bill.[16]
Iranian expatriate and political expert, Dr. Karim Abdian Bani Saeed, expressed the view that the appointment of the subject was hasty and that Qaani's expertise falls short of the assassinated Soleimani. He noted that despite his relatively unknown figure, Qaani is a veteran with decades of overseas military experience, and signaled that his appointment is unlikely to either reduce the Quds Force influence upon Iranian foreign policy, or change Iranian influence in the region.[35]
In early October 2024, concerns emerged regarding the whereabouts of Qaani. Speculation grew after his absence from major public events, including a prayer service led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in honor of Hezbollah leaderHassan Nasrallah. He was last seen assistingHezbollah inBeirut, but no official statement has been issued by the IRGC regarding his condition. Israeli and Arab media reported that Qaani might have been injured or killed in an Israeli arirstrike in Beirut, and Iranian officials have not confirmed his status.[36] An October report by Middle East Eye stated that he was being questioned over security breaches.[37]
In March 2012, Qaani was added to theSpecially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List by the U.S. Department of the Treasury'sOffice of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), freezing his presumed assets and prohibiting transactions with U.S. entities.[38] The U.S. targeted Qaani with sanctions for overseeing the distribution of Quds Force funding to regional allies.[39]
In October 2017, the Trump administration announced new sanctions against the Revolutionary Guard as a supporter of terrorist groups.[40] Qaani responded, "We are not a war-mongering country. But any military action against Iran will be regretted... Trump's threats against Iran will damage America... We have buried many... like Trump and know how to fight against America."[41]
In October 2022, Qaani was included in aCanadian sanctions list that included 9 Iranian entities, and 25 senior officials. The sanctions came in reaction to theDeath of Mahsa Amini, and the persecution of protestors in thewidescale protests that ensued.[42]
On 31 May 2024, theEU Council imposed personal sanction against Qaani, citing his direct responsibility as the commander of theQuds Forces for providing Iranian weaponry to a wide web of Iran-backed militias and other proxies operating across the Middle East, includingYemen's Houthis.[43]
Ebrahim Jabari, an advisor to IRGC commander-in-chief Hossein Salami, told reporters that Qaani is in good health and will receive the "Fath" medal from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei within days, according to IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news website.
| Military offices | ||
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| Preceded by Unknown | Second-in-Command ofQuds Force Unknown–2020 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commander ofQuds Force 2020–present | Incumbent |
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