Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, on Wednesday vowed to make Israel regret its alleged assassination of Hamas terror group leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, while its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promised a “harsh punishment” for the killing.
The threats came as condemnation for the killing poured in from countries aligned with Iran and the Palestinians, who blamed Israel for the attack
Haniyeh was killed hours earlier in a missile strike that hit the building in the Iranian capital where he was staying, according to Iranian media. Haniyeh was in Tehran to participate in Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony for Pezeshkian, who recently won elections.
“Iran is mourning the martyrdom of the brave leader of the Palestinian Resistance Ismail Haniyeh,” Pezeshkian wrote on his official account on X. “Yesterday I raised his victorious hand and today I have to carry his coffin on my shoulders.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will defend its territorial integrity and honor and would make the terrorist occupiers regret their cowardly action,” Pezeshkian continued, referring to Israel.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, “With this action, the criminal and terrorist Zionist regime prepared the ground for harsh punishment for itself, and we consider it our duty to seek revenge for his blood as he was martyred in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” in a statement carried by official news agency IRNA.
Israel has not commented on the incident, which came amid its war on the Iran-backed Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas said that Haniyeh was killed in a “Zionist strike” in Tehran and promised it “will not go unanswered.” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps also confirmed his death while saying it was still investigating the circumstances.
The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said the assassination was a “critical event” that takes the battle with Israel to “new levels” and will have “major repercussions on the entire region.”
Violating the sovereignty of countries in the region constitutes a “miscalculation” and should “ring an alarm bell for all the countries and peoples in the region,” the Brigades said in a statement, adding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leading Israel “toward the abyss.”
“This is a turning point for the conflict,” Taher al-Nounou, Haniyeh’s press adviser, told Al-Jazeera TV, adding that Israel and “those who stand with it — and by this we mean the United States” will bear responsibility.
Iran’s state media cited the country’s foreign ministry as saying in a statement that “the martyrdom of Haniyeh in Tehran will strengthen the deep and unbreakable bond between Tehran, Palestine, and the resistance.”
The assassination of Haniyeh in Tehran was “a dangerous gamble to undermine Tehran’s deterrence,” Nournews, an outlet affiliated with Iran’s top security body the Supreme National Security Council, said. “Crossing red lines has always been costly for the enemy.”
Iran has in the past acted on threats to retaliate against Israel, generally through its regional proxies. However, in April, for the first time, it responded directly to the killing of a senior army general in an alleged Israeli strike in Beirut. On that occasion, Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, nearly all of which Israel was able to intercept with the help of US coordination with other forces in the region, including Britain, France, and some Arab states. Very minor damage was caused to an airbase and a young Bedouin girl was seriously injured by falling shrapnel.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group condemned Israel while warning that Haniyeh’s death would only increase the resolve of Iran-backed “resistance” groups.
“The martyrdom of leader Haniyeh… will increase the determination and stubbornness of the mujahideen resistance fighters on all resistance fronts… and will make their resolve stronger in confronting the Zionist enemy,” Hezbollah said in a statement.
The terror group has been trading near-daily cross-border fire with Israel since its ally Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, triggering the ongoing war in Gaza.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has met Hamas leaders several times to discuss the war and US-backed negotiations for a truce.
Hours before before Haniyeh’s death, Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut in response to a weekend rocket attack by the Lebanese terror group that killed 12 children and injured dozens of others at a soccer field in northern Israel.
There was no immediate reaction from the White House to the killing of Haniyeh.
Asked by reporters in Manila about the Tehran strike, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he had no “additional information to provide.” But he expressed hope for a diplomatic solution on the Israeli-Lebanon border.
“I don’t think that war is inevitable,” he said. “I maintain that. I think there’s always room and opportunity for diplomacy, and I’d like to see parties pursue those opportunities.”
Jordan’s Foreign Ministry condemned “in the strongest terms” the assassination, calling it “a violation of international law and international humanitarian law, and an escalatory crime that will push towards more tension and chaos in the region.”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Sufyan Al-Qudah called for the international community to take “immediate measures to impose an end to the Israeli aggression on Gaza and Israel’s violations of international law and United Nations resolutions, and to protect the security and stability of the region from the disastrous consequences of the continued Israeli aggression on Gaza.”
He also condemned “the Israeli aggression” in Beirut the night before, warning that it would lead to a spread of conflict.
There was also condemnation of Haniyeh’s killing from Russia, Turkey, Qatar, and China.
“It is a completely unacceptable political assassination, and this will lead to a further escalation of tensions,” Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Bogdanov told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.
Konstantin Kosachev, the vice president of Russia’s upper house Federation Council, said he expected a “sudden escalation of mutual hatred in the Near East.”
“The most difficult period of confrontations is beginning in the region,” he wrote on Telegram.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov welcomed Haniyeh to Moscow in September 2022 for discussions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Turkey condemned the “shameful assassination” of Haniyeh — an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — as showing Israel’s aversion to achieving peace, the foreign affairs ministry said in a statement, adding that “this attack also aims to spread the Gaza war to a regional dimension.”
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called it a “treacherous assassination,” referred to Haniyeh as his “brother,” and wished that God bless him with “his paradise and beauty.”
“It is a despicable act” he said on X, “aimed at disrupting the Palestinian cause, the glorious resistance of Gaza and the just struggle of our Palestinian brothers, and demoralizing and intimidating the Palestinians.”
Turkey hosts Hamas political officials, and insists Hamas is not a terrorist organization.
“Zionist barbarism will not be able to achieve its goals as it has done so far,” Erdogan continued.
Haniyeh, who spent much time in Turkey before the October 7 attack launched by Hamas on Israel, last paid a visit to Erdogan in Istanbul in April.
Qatar condemned the killing, describing it as a “heinous crime,” the Gulf state’s foreign ministry said.
Qatar, which hosts Hamas’s political leadership — including Haniyeh — and has mediated in truce talks for the war in Gaza, called the incident a “dangerous escalation,” and added that it will “lead to the region slipping into chaos and undermine the chances of peace.”
The emirate’s prime minister also cast doubt on Israel’s seriousness about reaching a hostage release deal with Hamas.
“Political assassinations & continued targeting of civilians in Gaza while talks continue leads us to ask, how can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on other side?” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani wrote on X. “Peace needs serious partners & a global stance against the disregard for human life.”
Qatar, along with Egypt and the US, has been mediating talks between Israel and Hamas throughout the war in Gaza.
China, which recently tried to mediate a reconciliation between Hamas and its West Bank-based rival Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority, also condemned the killing.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Haniyeh’s assassination was a “cowardly act” and urged Palestinians to remain united against Israel. Palestinian factions called for a general strike in the West Bank in response to the killing.
Senior Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh in the West Bank also condemned Haniyeh’s assassination as a “cowardly act.”
Deputy Secretary General of the Hamas-aligned Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group Muhammad Al-Handi said that Haniyeh’s death was a great loss for the Palestinian nation but “if the enemy thinks that it can defeat the resistance by assassinating the resistance leaders, it is completely wrong,” according to Iran’s Shehab News Agency.
“Hamas is a great movement and will fill any empty space directly, and Haniyeh was looking for martyrdom since childhood,” he said.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported the the IRGC said it would give a second statement on Haniyeh’s death with more details about the assassination later Wednesday.
Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, head of Yemen’s Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee, said in a statement, “Targeting Ismail Haniyeh is a heinous terrorist crime and a flagrant violation of laws and ideal values.”
The Houthis have been attacking Red Sea shipping as well as firing drones and missiles at Israel, claiming that it is in support of Gaza.
The war in Gaza erupted on October 7 when Hamas led a devastating cross-border attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people while abducting 251 people as hostages to Gaza.