Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the early hours of the morning in Iran, the Palestinian terror group said on Wednesday, describing the strike as a “severe escalation” that would not achieve its goals.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also confirmed the death of Haniyeh, hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for the country’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian, and said it was investigating.
In a statement carried by Iranian media, Pezeshkian said Iran would “defend its territorial integrity, dignity, honor, and pride, and will make the terrorist occupiers regret their cowardly act.”
It was the second high-profile assassination attributed to Israel in a matter of hours, coming after an airstrike in Beirut that killed Hezbollah’s top military leader. There was no immediate comment on the Tehran strike from Israeli authorities.
Israel had vowed to kill Haniyeh and other leaders of Hamas after the Gaza-based terror group’s devastating October 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.
