Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has pledged to avenge the death of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in a missile strike in Tehran on Wednesday.
Countries throughout the region have blamed the attack on Israel, but the Jewish state has yet to officially comment.
Haniyeh, usually based in Qatar, was in the Iranian capital for the inauguration of the new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
The assassination of Haniyeh is a “cowardly act that will not go unpunished”, the Hamas-run channel Al-Aqsa TV quoted senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk as saying.
“This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters. He went on to say that Hamas will continue the path it is following, and is “confident of victory.”
Israel had threatened to eliminate Haniyeh and other leaders of Hamas over the group’s October, 7 attack on Israel. Earlier this year an Israeli air strike in central Gaza killed three sons and four grandchildren of Haniyeh. The military claimed they were involved in “terrorist activities”. Haniyeh at the time said that about 60 members of his family had been killed since October.
Following the assassination, an X account translating and sharing Khamenei’s statements posted a message from the Iranian leader, saying: “following this bitter, tragic event which has taken place within the borders of the Islamic Republic, it is our duty to take revenge.”
In a separate statement, Khamenei promised “harsh punishment” for Israel over Haniyeh’s killing, claiming that “the criminal and terrorist Zionist regime martyred our dear guest in our house and made us bereaved, but it also prepared the ground for a harsh punishment for itself.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has also condemned the strike on Haniyeh’s residence in Tehran, vowing to defend the Islamic Republic’s territorial integrity, honor and dignity and make “the terrorist occupiers regret their cowardly action.”
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has also threatened Israel with a “harsh and painful response” from Iran and its allies.
In a statement, the IRGC said Haniyeh’s assassination showed that “the Zionist gang of criminals, murderers and terrorists, without any regard for international rules and regulations, does not shy away from committing any criminal action to cover up the shameful failures of nine months of war in Gaza.”
Prior to Wednesday’s incident, Israel had repeatedly threatened to eliminate top Hamas officials over the group’s attack on Israel in October last year, which killed 1,200 people and saw some 250 others taken hostage.
Haniyeh, who had been based in Qatar, had been the Palestinian militant group’s diplomatic frontman, acting as a mediator in ceasefire negotiations during the Israel-Hamas war.
