Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Saturday that the leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran by a short-range projectile with an explosive weighing about 7 kg (15 pounds), and the Iranian military vowed revenge for the action.
The killing, which occurred on Wednesday (31/7) last week, raised concerns about the potential for direct conflict between Tehran and its arch enemy, Israel, in a region already shaken by Israel's war in Gaza and the escalating conflict in Lebanon.
Revenge for the killing of the Hamas leader will be “severe and carried out at the right time, place and manner,” the Guards statement added, blaming Israel's “terrorist Zionist regime” for his death.
Iran and Hamas accuse Israel of carrying out the attack that killed Haniyeh hours after he attended the inauguration of Iran's new president.
The New York Timesciting unnamed sources, reported that the blast that killed Haniyeh was a bomb that was secretly smuggled into the guesthouse where he was staying in Tehran two months ago.
Israeli officials have not claimed responsibility for the incident.
The statement by Iran's elite forces also accused the “criminal government of the United States” of supporting the attack, which Iranian media said took place on the northern outskirts of Tehran.
Haniyeh was buried on Friday (2/8) in Qatar, where he was on duty. (ah/ft)
