IRGC chief tells Netanyahu to accept "new regional order"

Esmail Qaani, commander of the IRGC's Quds Force, has publicly taunted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on X, saying the fire of Hezbollah in the north and Ansarallah in the south had exposed his false promises to Israeli settlers and that a new regional order was now taking shape.

"Netanyahu dreamed of expanding the security belt in the region, but the intelligent and brave fire of Hezbollah brothers in the north and Ansarallah in the south exposed the regime's lies to settlers," Qaani wrote on March 31.

"The wish of the martyred resistance commanders has been realised: the resistance war room is one. Get used to the new regional order," he added.

The tweet comes as Israel continues to invade southern Lebanon up to the coastal city of Tyre with an estimated 600,000 people forced north towards Beirut and other cities from the historically Shi’ite southern areas.

The post is significant given the deeply uncertain status of Qaani himself. Unconfirmed reports have circulated in Arab and Israeli media since early March alleging he was executed by Iran on suspicion of spying for Mossad, with claims that his intelligence had helped Israel and the US assassinate Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on February 28.

Iran has neither confirmed nor denied the reports. Other unverified accounts have suggested he fled to Israel. The authenticity of the X post could not be independently verified.

Qaani took command of the Quds Force in January 2020 following the US assassination of his predecessor Qasem Soleimani.

The Quds Force is Iran's elite foreign operations unit responsible for managing the Axis of Resistance across Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and the Palestinian territories.

Israel destroyed the Quds Force headquarters in a strike earlier in March, in what Israeli officials described as one of the most significant blows of the war.

The IDF has also reported destroying approximately 70% of Iran's missile launchers since February 28, with the number of Iranian missile launches declining significantly in recent weeks.

Lebanon's prime minister said in March that the IRGC was directly commanding Hezbollah's operations against Israel, with analysts at the Atlantic Council agreeing the Quds Force was effectively calling the shots.