TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said a short-range projectile was behind the killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, contradicting a New York Times report Thursday that the blast was caused by a remote-controlled explosive.
The televised statement accused the United States of supporting the attack which it blamed on Israel. The statement, which reiterated a call for retaliation, said a rocket with a seven-kilogram (about 15-pound) warhead was used to target the residence of Hamas’s political leader in the capital Tehran on Wednesday, adding it caused heavy devastation. It didn’t share details of the residence’s location.
“The action was designed and carried out by the Zionist regime and supported by the US,” said the Guard’s statement. It added that “the warmongering and terrorist Zionist regime will receive harsh punishment in the suitable time, place, and capacity.”
The New York Times reported Thursday that the explosion that killed Haniyeh was caused by a sophisticated, remote-controlled explosive laid some two months ago. The report cited a US official and seven Middle Eastern officials, including two Revolutionary Guard members.
Israel has not confirmed or denied its role in the killing of Haniyeh, who was in Iran to attend the inauguration of newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
However, Israel has pledged to kill him and other Hamas leaders over the group’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, which left nearly 1,200 people dead and saw 251 taken hostage.
The assassination has sparked fears of a wider regional conflict and of a direct confrontation between Israel and Iran if Tehran retaliates.
US President Joe Biden was asked Saturday night in Wilmington, Delaware whether he thought Iran would stand down. He responded: “I hope so. I don’t know.”
In April, Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, which said it intercepted 99% of them. The barrage came less than two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria killed two Iranian generals, and it marked the first time Iran had launched a direct military assault on Israel despite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran does not recognize Israel and supports anti-Israeli terror groups including Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.