Iran leader threatens Israel with severe punishment for killing Hamas leader in Tehran

Haniyeh was killed when a rocket hit the place of his stay in Tehran. Hamas blamed Israel for the attack, but Israel denied any involvement. Khamenei vowed to 'create ground for severe punishment' for Israel.

Israel will be severely punished for the assassination of the head of the Palestinian Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.

Haniyeh was martyred at the hands of the "criminal Zionist regime," Khamenei said.

"We consider it our duty to create ground for severe punishment for ourselves and avenge the blood of the one who was martyred on the territory of the Islamic Republic," Khamenei said.

The newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also stated that Tehran would "make the terrorist occupiers" who killed Haniyeh regret their actions. At the same time, Iranian Vice President Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi noted that the Palestinian resistance had every right to "punish the perpetrators" of the murder of the Hamas leader.

The head of the political bureau of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard were killed when a rocket hit the place where they were staying in Tehran. Hamas said that the head of the political bureau participated in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, which took place the day before on July 30. The group called the attack "treacherous" and blamed "Zionists" for it.

The Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on Haniyeh's death. At the same time, Israeli Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Amihai Eliyahu (from the right-wing Otzma Yehudit party) called his death "the right way to cleanse the world of dirt." As The Times of Israel said, Eliyahu became the first Israeli high-ranking official to hint that Israel was behind the murder of one of the Hamas leaders.

Haniyeh was responsible for Hamas's international relations. He was one of the key participants in the negotiations on a ceasefire and the release of hostages. The head of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas, as well as Foreign Ministries of Turkey, Iran and Russia condemned the murder of the head of the Hamas Politburo.