The commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, has “reappeared” during celebrations in Tehran despite claims of being assassinated by Israel.

A video clip captured by Iran’s Fars news agency and shared by Al Jazeera Arabic showed a man, said to be Qaani, interacting with several people during a rally in the downtown area of the Iranian capital.

A similar video posted by Iran’s English-language state broadcaster Press TV also showed Qaani, the successor of the late commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US strike in Iraq in 2020.

Israel claimed that it killed Qaani during a series of assassinations targeting Iran’s most senior military leaders when it launched its attack on the country on June 13.

The Iranian government neither confirmed nor denied the Israeli report.

Previously, it was also reported that Qaani was killed alongside Hezbollah officials during an Israeli attack in Lebanon in 2024.