Quds Force commander in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Esmail Qaani, gave a rare interview Friday to Iranian media, in which he claimed that the Islamic Republic and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had no knowledge of the "exact timing" of the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
Qaani added that senior Hamas leaders abroad were also not informed of the timing. "Neither we, nor Hassan Nasrallah, nor Hamas' top leadership knew the exact timing of the operation (October 7 attack). When the operation in Gaza was announced, Haniyeh was on his way to the airport to fly to Iraq and only then received the message."
Qaani revealed that on October 7 he entered Lebanon, where he was considering a discussion with Nasrallah on the next steps. "The martyr Nasrallah, who understood Lebanon's social conditions, coordinated the start of the operation with precise timing and decided to begin it at night when the southern area (of Lebanon) would be quieter."
"The greatest crime of all"
Regarding Nasrallah's elimination on September 27, 2024, Qaani said: "After a series of crimes, from the deaths of commanders to the pager explosions, came the greatest crime of all – the death of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah."
According to Qaani, "In this attack, in addition to heavy bombs, chemicals were also used (apparently referring to gases released in the underground tunnel blast that suffocated those inside). The main cause of Sayyed Hassan's death was not only the explosion. The chemicals used in the bombs played a role in his death."
