There has been growing speculation that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Esmail Qaani was executed by Iran for spying for Israel.
Tehran has not confirmed the reports.
However, Arab media have been reporting that Qaani was arrested and possibly executed on suspicion of espionage.
Emirati departure The National reported that claims were appearing on social media.
The reports come after years of rumors surrounding the Quds Force general. Qaani earned the reputation of being “the man of nine lives” for repeatedly surviving and escaping nine alleged assassination attempts that killed top leaders around him.
More recently, Qaani was not among those killed in the attacks that led to the death of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with several senior regime figures. Unverified reports claim that he left the site minutes before the attack occurred.
This is not the first time Qaani has escaped death.
Suspicions grew because he was close to several of the figures who were killed during multiple attacks between the United States and Israel over the years.
In October 2024 he was declared dead, then interrogated and then appeared on television.
In 2025, during the 12-day war, several media outlets declared him dead. He then appeared on national television again.
Qaani had somehow convinced interrogators of his innocence after mysteriously emerging unharmed from sites that were hit by Israeli missiles.
More rumors arose when an internal agent recruited by the Mossad allegedly sent a video of Khamenei’s body to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In 2025, the Mossad published a photograph of a secret meeting held by the general with a person whose identity was hidden. The attached title implied that Qaani had ties to Israeli intelligence.
The photo followed another round of speculation that Qaani was killed in an Israeli action.
The general, however, dismissed the claims, saying it was an attempt by Israel to determine its location.
A Mossad-linked social media account claimed that same year that Qaani was not a spy,
Now reports say that after Israel eliminated Hezbollah’s leadership, Iran launched a formal investigation into possible security violations.
Social media accounts then began circulating claims that Qaani was executed by the IRGC after being detained for being a Mossad agent.
Tehran has reportedly denied the claims reported by Jfeed.
Qaani became the head of the IRGC’s Quds Force in January 2020 after the United States assassinated his predecessor Qassem Suleimani.
