Iran Confirms Assassination Of Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh In Tehran

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said, as reported by the Associated Press (AP).

Iran provided no details on how Haniyeh was killed, and the Guard stated that the attack was under investigation. I Photo: Federation Council Wikimedia Commons

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the assassination, but suspicion quickly fell on Israel, which has vowed to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders in response to the group’s October 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and resulted in approximately 250 others being taken hostage.

Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday.

Iran provided no details on how Haniyeh was killed, and the Guard stated that the attack was under investigation. In 2020, a top Iranian military nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was killed by a remote-controlled machine gun while traveling in a car outside Tehran.

Analysts on Iranian state television quickly began blaming Israel for the attack. Israel has not immediately commented but often remains silent regarding assassinations carried out by its Mossad intelligence agency.

In Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas since the October attack, more than 39,360 Palestinians have been killed and over 90,900 wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, whose count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.