The Figure of Iranian General Esmail Qaani, a Traitor in Khamenei's Inner Circle

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The attack launched by the United States (US) and Israel on Iran since 28 February. It was reported how Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei was killed in the attack, including several officials. However, there was one person who survived the attack. He is General Esmail Qaani, also known as Ismail Qaani. He is the commander of the Quds Force, the IRGC’s elite overseas operations wing which arms and coordinates the ‘Axis of Resistance’ across the Middle East, part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. That fact has led to Qaani being accused of espionage inside his own country. The accusation is not unfounded; he has also survived two Israeli attacks in previous years. So is he a traitor in Khamenei’s inner circle? Mossad spies. Actually, Mossad has denied the accusation. In a statement, Mossad said ‘Ismail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC, is not our spy’, as carried by the Turkish site En.Haberler. The statement rejects months of speculation that the Iranian general had defected to Israeli intelligence. But this did not stop the inquiries. Qaani (67) is known as a senior commander responsible for foreign operations of the IRGC. He was appointed to replace former Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in 2020 in a US operation in Baghdad, Iraq. However, during his tenure, the Middle East’s ‘Axis of Resistance’ that had been built previously, including Hamas in Gaza as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon, was harmed. Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah died. Qaani should have been the commander directly responsible for managing the regional proxy network during the regional war. Under his leadership many other important figures were eliminated. During the Iran-Israel war for 12 days last year, he was reported killed by several media. But suddenly, he reappeared in a public celebration in Tehran in late June 2025, wearing civilian clothes and a baseball cap, in good health. The same sequence occurred in October 2024, when he was reported killed, but he was later said to have been interrogated and appeared again on state television. Meanwhile, Israel has published a list of Iranian officials and those connected to Iran that they want to eliminate. At the end of the weekend, the list was declared ‘complete’ but Qaani’s name was not on it. News of capture and execution. Meanwhile, The National referenced new reports indicating Qaani had been captured, interrogated or even executed. Some social media accounts claim this. ‘Esmail Qaani, head of Iran’s Quds Force, has been executed by the IRGC,’ said an X account published by The National on Thursday (5/3/2026). ‘He has survived all assassination attempts so far… even with Khamenei during the US-Israel bombing he managed to escape,’ added the page. ‘Earlier, he was detained by the IRGC on suspicion of being a Mossad agent.’ Yet to date there has been no statement from the Iranian government. The IRGC has not issued an official clarification.