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Israel assassinated top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Iran says [1]

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Date: 2024-07-31 05:27:54+00:00

Israel has been accused of carrying out several assassinations inside Iran in league with anti-regime resistance fighters over the past years, including a series of attacks on top nuclear scientists. It has not commented on the death of Haniyeh.

If a pinpoint Israeli strike is confirmed, his murder will be a massive and embarrassing security lapse for the Iranians as Haniyeh had been a central part of the inauguration ceremony, hugging and kissing Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian.

The immediate reaction from Tehran came from foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani, who said the “pure blood” of Haniyeh “will never be wasted” and vowed the “unbreakable bond” between Iran and the Palestinians would only be strengthened.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday morning that Iran considers it its “duty to take revenge” for the assassination. “With this action, the criminal and terrorist Zionist regime prepared the ground for a harsh punishment for itself,” he said.

The longer-term question will be what Tehran does in practical terms, given it was willing to launch a massive missile barrage against Israel in April. The strike on Hezbollah — a group fully supported by Tehran — will also raise the prospect of an Iranian response.

Since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, in which the militant group killed some 1,200 Israelis and took around 250 others hostage, Israel’s leaders have vowed revenge on Hamas officials. In the 10 months since, Israel’s airstrikes and ground operations have killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians, the Gazan authorities say.

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[1] Url: https://www.politico.eu/article/top-hamas-leader-ismail-haniyeh-assassinated-iran/

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