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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
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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.

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Supporters of Pakistan's Imran Khan Call off Protest

Policemen fire tear gas shells to disperse supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party during a protest to demand the release of former prime minister Imran Khan, in Islamabad on November 26, 2024. (Photo by Aamir QURESHI / AFP)
Policemen fire tear gas shells to disperse supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party during a protest to demand the release of former prime minister Imran Khan, in Islamabad on November 26, 2024. (Photo by Aamir QURESHI / AFP)
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Supporters of Pakistan's Imran Khan Call off Protest

Policemen fire tear gas shells to disperse supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party during a protest to demand the release of former prime minister Imran Khan, in Islamabad on November 26, 2024. (Photo by Aamir QURESHI / AFP)
Policemen fire tear gas shells to disperse supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party during a protest to demand the release of former prime minister Imran Khan, in Islamabad on November 26, 2024. (Photo by Aamir QURESHI / AFP)

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's party suspended street protests demanding his release from jail after a sweeping midnight raid by security forces in the capital Islamabad in which hundreds of people were arrested, local media reported on Wednesday.
Broadcaster Geo News, citing a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) statement, said the party had announced a "temporary suspension" of the protest, in which at least six people, including four paramilitary soldiers and two protesters, have been killed.
A PTI spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Thousands of protesters had gathered in the center of Islamabad on Tuesday after a convoy, led by Khan's wife Bushra Bibi, broke through several lines of security all the way to the edge of the city's highly fortified red zone.
Geo News and broadcaster ARY both reported that a massive raid was launched by security forces in a pitch-dark central Islamabad, where lights had been turned off and a barrage of teargas was fired. The protest gathering was almost completely dispersed, they reported.
On Wednesday morning, city workers were cleaning up debris and clearing some of the shipping containers that had blocked roads around the capital. The heavily fortified red zone was empty of protesters but several of their vehicles were left behind, including the remains of a truck from which Bushra Bibi had been leading the protests that appeared charred by flames, according to Reuters witnesses.
PTI had planned on staging a sit-in in the red zone until the release of Khan, who has been in jail since August last year.
PTI's president for the city of Peshawar in the party's northern stronghold of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said the party had called off the protest.
"We will chalk out the new strategy later after proper consultation,” Mohammad Asim told Reuters.
He said that Bushra Bibi as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, a key Khan ally, had returned "safely" to the province from the capital.
Pakistan's benchmark share index jumped more than 4% in intraday trade on Wednesday, recovering losses made on Tuesday when the index closed 3.6% down over the news of political clashes.
"With valuations remaining highly attractive, we expect the positive momentum to continue going forward," said Tahir Abbas, head of research at Arif Habib Limited, adding that the sharp rebound in the market was due to hopes of political stability restoring investor confidence.