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Iranwire – Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Palestinian group Hamas, was killed in Tehran on Wednesday along with one of his bodyguards.
Haniyeh, the most senior Hamas official outside of Gaza and a key figure in hostage negotiations, was struck by an “airborne projectile” at 2 am local time.
The incident occurred when he was staying in a special veterans’ residence in northern Tehran.
The Hamas leader was in the Iranian capital to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, which drew other prominent figures from the so-called “Axis of Resistance”.
Senior Iranian officials have pointed to “Zionists” as responsible for the killing, while analysts on Iranian state television explicitly accused Israel.
When asked to comment, Israel said it does not respond to foreign media reports.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has responded to questions from reporters about the potential for regional escalation following the assassination of Haniyeh, as well as Israel’s claim it killed a Hezbollah commander in Beirut on Tuesday.
“I don’t think war is inevitable. I maintain that. I think there’s always room and opportunities for diplomacy,” Austin said, adding that the US would “work hard to make sure that we’re doing things to help take the temperature down”.
Asked if he could confirm information about the strike that killed Haniyeh, Austin said: “I don’t have any additional information to provide.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed the death of Haniyeh hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for the country’s new president and said it was investigating.
President Pezeshkian said on Wednesday that Iran will “defend its territorial integrity, dignity, honor, and pride, and will make the terrorist occupiers regret their cowardly act” of assassinating Haniyeh, according to media reports.
“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 siad.
He added that Hamas would persist on its current course, expressing confidence in their eventual victory.
Typically based in Qatar, Haniyeh has represented the group’s international diplomatic efforts during the ongoing conflict triggered by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7. An Israeli airstrike recently killed three of his sons.
