Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said yesterday that Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was slain in Tehran by a short-range projectile with a warhead of about 7kg, and vowed severe revenge.
Wednesday’s assassination has aroused fears of direct conflict between Tehran and its arch-enemy Israel in a region shaken by Israel’s war in Gaza and a worsening conflict in Lebanon.
Revenge for the killing of the Hamas leader will be “severe and at an appropriate time, place, and manner”, the Guards’ statement added, blaming the “terrorist Zionist regime” of Israel for his death.
In Iran, the voices clamouring for revenge have intensified since Haniyeh’s killing.
Yesterday, the ultraconservative Kayhan daily said retaliatory operations were expected to be “more diverse, more dispersed and impossible to intercept.” “This time, areas such as Tel Aviv and Haifa and the strategic centres and especially residences of some officials involved in the recent crimes are among the targets,” the newspaper said in an opinion piece.
Iran and Hamas have accused Israel of carrying out the strike that killed Haniyeh hours after he attended the inauguration of Iran’s new president.
The New York Times, citing unnamed sources, reported that the explosion which killed Haniyeh was a bomb that was covertly smuggled into the guesthouse where he was staying in Tehran two months ago.
The statement by the elite Guards force also accused the “criminal US government” of supporting the attack which Iranian media said was in a northern suburb of Tehran.
Haniyeh was buried on Friday in Qatar, where he was based. (Reuters/AFP)