Iran's Quds Force Commander seen alive after death rumors: Reports
Tehran: Iran’s top military commander, Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, appeared in public on Tuesday, putting to rest rumors that he had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. Qaani, who leads the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) Quds Force, was seen attending a public event in Tehran celebrating what Iran called its victory over Israel, reports Turkish news agency Anadolu Ajansı.
Iran’s Tasnim News Agency shared a video showing Qaani among a cheering crowd. “Commander Qaani attends today’s gathering of the people of Tehran following Operation Divine Victory,” the agency posted on social media.
According to Anadolu Ajansı, Iran’s state-run Press TV also confirmed his presence, showing footage of the general being warmly welcomed by citizens.
Earlier this month, reports from The New York Times had claimed that Qaani might have been killed during Israeli airstrikes.
Since June 13, Israel has launched multiple airstrikes across Iran, targeting military and nuclear sites. Israel said it acted because Iran was close to making a nuclear weapon, an accusation Iran has strongly denied.
In response, Iran fired back with missile and drone attacks. The situation escalated when the United States also entered the conflict, bombing three nuclear sites in Iran on Sunday.
After nearly two weeks of intense air attacks between Iran and Israel, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire late Tuesday night, bringing a temporary halt to the fighting.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
