Esmail Ghaani

Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei appointed Qaani as Commander of the Quds Force on 3 January 2020 after General Qasem Soleimani was killed by a targeted U.S. drone strike near Baghdad International Airport. Reactions to his appointment were mixed. Khamenei described him as "one of the most prominent military commanders during the Sacred Defense". Iranian expatriate and political expert, Dr. Karim Abdian Bani Saeed, expressed the view that the appointment of the subject was hasty and that Ghaani‘s expertise falls short of that of the assassinated commander. However, noted that despite his relatively unknown figure, Qaani is a veteran with decades of overseas military experience, and signaled that his appointment is unlikely either to reduce the Quds Force influence in the iranian foreign policy, nor to change the iranian influence in the region.

At a ceremony commemorating martyrs on 5 July 2017, he contended that the U.S. had futilely spent $6 trillion on Iraq and Afghanistan in attempts to attack Iran. He ended saying, "America has suffered more losses from us than we have suffered losses from them."

President Trump declined to recertify the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), less formally known as the Iran nuclear deal, on 13 October 2017. Trump also announced new sanctions against the IRGC as a supporter of terrorist groups. Ghaani responded, “We are not a war-mongering country. But any military action against Iran will be regretted... Trump’s threats against Iran will damage America... We have buried many... like Trump and know how to fight against America.”

During the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988, Qaani led the 5th Nasr Brigade and 21st Imam Reza Armored Brigade. In 1981, he received his military training in Imam Ali Officers' Academy in Tehran.

On 27 March 2012, Qaani was added to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), freezing his assets and prohibiting transactions with U.S. entities.

On 25 May 2012, two villages in the Houla region of Syria were attacked, resulting in the deaths of 108 people, including 49 children. United Nations investigators concluded that victims had been killed in "two bouts of summary executions" by pro-Assad Shabiha. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland asserted on 29 May that Qaani alleged in an interview two days earlier that the Quds force helped train Shabiha responsible for the Houla attack. On 27 May, Qaani had given an interview to Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) stating, "Thanks to Iran's presence in Syria-- physically and nonphysically-- big massacres were prevented...if the Islamic republic had not been present in Syria, the massacre of its people would have been multiplied." The interview was deleted from ISNA's site within hours, but copies remained on other news outlets. According to Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-Israeli expert on the Middle East, Ghaani's statement was "the first time that an IRGC senior officer has admitted that the Quds force is operating in Syria." Joint Chiefs-of-Staff Chairman Hassan Firouzabadi voiced on Press TV that "[w]e do not interfere in Syria's internal affairs but we support Syria as the resistance front against Israel because one of our principles is the issue of Palestine...We have encouraged the country's government to implement reforms and listen to its people's demands."

Qaani was appointed Deputy Commander of the Quds Force in 1997 by IRGC Chief Commander Rahim Safavi, along with Qasem Soleimani as Commander. As Deputy, Ghaani oversaw financial disbursements to paramilitary groups including Hezbollah and an arms shipment intended for The Gambia intercepted in Nigeria in October 2010.

Esmail Qaani (also spelled as Esmail Ghaani Persian: اسماعیل قاآنی ‎; born 8 August 1957) is an Iranian Brigadier General in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and commander of its Quds Force — a division primarily responsible for extraterritorial military and clandestine operations. Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei appointed Qaani as Commander of the Quds Force on 3 January 2020 after General Qasem Soleimani was killed by a targeted U.S. drone strike near Baghdad International Airport.