Haniyeh assassination: Iran’s supreme leader orders attack on Israel

Khamenei gave the order at an emergency meeting of Iran's Supreme National Security Council shortly after Iran announced that the Hamas leader was killed

Tehran: Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued an order for Iran to strike Israel directly, in retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, a media report said, citing three unnamed Iranian officials.

Khamenei gave the order at an emergency meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Wednesday morning, shortly after Iran announced that Haniyeh had been killed, The New York Times quoted the three Iranian officials as saying.

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Of the three officials, two are members of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), the report said.

Khamenei, in a message published on his website, stressed that Israel prepared the ground for a “harsh punishment” for itself.

In two statements on Wednesday, the IRGC accused Israel of assassinating Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards at their residence in Tehran in a “terrorist attack”.

It extended condolences over the “martyrdom” of Haniyeh and his bodyguard, adding that Haniyeh was among the dignitaries invited to Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday and had, over the past years, paid numerous visits to Iran.

The IRGC condemned the “criminal act” as in defiance of international regulations and laws, saying Israel “will receive a harsh and painful response” from Iran.

Pezeshkian also, in a post on X, expressed condolences over Haniyeh’s “martyrdom”, saying Iran would defend its territorial integrity, dignity, honour and pride, and make the Israelis, which he described as “terrorist occupiers”, regret their “cowardly move”.

امروز ایران عزیز به سوگ شریک غم و شادی خود، همراه همیشگی و پرافتخار راه مقاومت، رهبر شجاع مقاومت فلسطین، شهید القدس، حاج اسماعیل هنیه نشسته‌ است. دیروز دست فاتح او را بالا بردم و امروز باید بر روی شانه‌هایم او را تشییع کنم.
شهادت هنر مردان خدا است. پیوند دو ملت سربلند ایران و… pic.twitter.com/s6eqHX78a8

— Masoud Pezeshkian (@drpezeshkian) July 31, 2024