File image.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed “harsh punishment” for the Israeli assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Palestinian Hamas Movement in Tehran on July 31.
Hamas said that Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed after the building where they were staying in the Iranian capital was struck. Iranian authorities have not provided any details on the assassination as of yet. Israel didn’t claim responsibility on the official level.
“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,” Khamenei said in a statement carried by Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also stressed in a statement that the assassination of Haniyeh in Tehran “will be met with a harsh and painful response.”
“Iran and the resistance front will respond to this crime,” the guards said, using a term Tehran uses to refer to its allies across the Middle East.
The killing of Haniyeh drew condemnations from Palestinian Authority, Yemen’s Houthis, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Russia, China and several other countries.
The assassination came just a day after Israel targeted Hezbollah senior military commander Fouad Shukr, also known as Hajj Mohsen, in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. The fate of Shukr remains unknown. The group warned Israel against attacking Beirut or any of its top leaders.
It also took place a little over a week after deadly Israeli strikes hit the Houthi-held Yemeni Red Sea port of al-Hodieda. The group vowed to respond.
The recent developments indicate that escalation in the Middle East which began with the October 7 Hamas-led surprise attack on Israel is about to reach a whole new level. The region may be on the brink of a full-on war.
The IRGC remarks in particular indicate that Iran and its allies could carry out a joint response against recent Israeli attacks in the region.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
