Iran's State TV Airs Footage of Esmail Qaani

FILE PHOTO: Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, head of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, speaks during a ceremony in Tehran, Iran April 14, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, head of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, speaks during a ceremony in Tehran, Iran April 14, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo
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Iran's State TV Airs Footage of Esmail Qaani

FILE PHOTO: Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, head of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, speaks during a ceremony in Tehran, Iran April 14, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, head of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, speaks during a ceremony in Tehran, Iran April 14, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo

The head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, Gen. Esmail Qaani, has appeared in television footage aired Tuesday by Iranian state television.

Rumors circulated for weeks over Qaani’s status in the time since an Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut’s southern suburbs in late September. But Qaani was seen in a black bomber jacket, wiping away tears at an event early Tuesday morning at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport.

While Iranian state television did not acknowledge the rumors, it made a point to film Qaani for over a minute and later share the footage from the airport ceremony online.

Qaani was on hand for the repatriation to Iran of the body of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, 58, who was killed in the Beirut airstrike.

Nilforushan’s body was flown by private plane from Beirut to Iraq for his funeral. Then the body was transferred to Iran for burial.

The funeral drew the largest crowd of top leaders in the IRGC together Tuesday for the first time since Tehran launched a ballistic missile attack on Israel.



Israel Plans to Appeal ICC Arrest Warrants for Alleged Gaza War Crimes

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses lawmakers in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem. Monday Nov. 18, 2024. (AP)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses lawmakers in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem. Monday Nov. 18, 2024. (AP)
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Israel Plans to Appeal ICC Arrest Warrants for Alleged Gaza War Crimes

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses lawmakers in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem. Monday Nov. 18, 2024. (AP)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses lawmakers in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem. Monday Nov. 18, 2024. (AP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says Israel plans to appeal the International Criminal Court’s recent decision to issue arrest warrants against him and his former defense minister over alleged crimes against humanity in Gaza.

The court last week issued the arrest warrants, accusing Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of war crimes for actions during Israel’s war in Gaza. The court said there was reasonable grounds to believe the two leaders bear responsibility for using “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid to Gaza and have intentionally targeted civilians.

Both men have condemned the decision and accused the court of anti-Israeli bias and undermining Israel’s right to self-defense.

Netanyahu said he discussed the matter Wednesday with Republican US Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is leading an effort in the US Congress to impose sanctions against the court and countries cooperating with it.

Netanyahu’s office said Israel also informed the ICC on Wednesday of “its intention to appeal to the court along with a demand to delay implementation of the arrest warrants.” It said the appeal would argue the warrants lacked any “legal or factual basis.”

Israel and the US are not members of the ICC, and the court does not have jurisdiction to make arrests on Israeli territory. But both men could be subject to arrest if they enter any of the court’s member states, which include allies like the UK, France and Italy.