Iran’s supreme leader vowed “severe punishment” for Israel for the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s top political leader, in Tehran.
Haniyeh was struck by an “airborne projectile” in the Iranian capital early on Wednesday in an assassination that is likely to heighten tensions further in the Middle East.
“With this action, the criminal and terrorist Zionist regime has paved the way for its own severe punishment,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.
“We view it as our duty to avenge his martyrdom which happened within the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s newly-inaugurated president, also warned Israel it will “regret this cowardly killing” as he pledged to strengthen the bond between Iran and Palestine.
“Yesterday, I raised his victorious hand, and today, I must take his body on my shoulders,” he said.Israel has not directly commented on the strike, but its military said it was conducting a “situation assessment”.
Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, said Israel doesn’t want war, “but we are preparing for all possibilities”.
Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly instructed his government not to comment on the attack.
The pre-dawn assassination of Haniyeh came just hours after Israel claimed to have killed a senior commander of Iran-backed Hezbollah in an airstrike on Beirut.Although Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the assassination, it is widely believed to be behind the attack.
Ismail Khatib, Iran’s current Minister of Intelligence, recently claimed to have “dismantled the Mossad’s infiltration network,” calling it a “turning point” for the ministry.
Ali Younisi, Iran’s former intelligence minister, expressed concerns in a 2020 interview, saying, “All the officials of the Islamic Republic should be worried about their lives.”
A clip of this interview, shared widely after Haniyeh’s assassination, shows Mr Younisi discussing Mossad’s influence in Iran over the past decade, which has made Iranian officials fear for their lives.
He said: “If the Zionist regime does not attack the political authorities of the Islamic Republic, it is because it has not decided to do so yet. Instead of identifying these threats, intelligence and security agencies have focused on insiders, critics, and domestic protesters.
“This neglect from Mossad has allowed it to strike repeatedly and openly threaten the officials of the Islamic Republic.”
The assassination of Haniyeh represents a major security breach for Iran and a significant humiliation for the Islamic Republic in the Arab world.
The Ayatollahs have long portrayed themselves as the primary supporters of Palestinian forces in the region.