Iranian officials have vowed to exact revenge against Israel over the killing of Hamas’ political chief in the heart of the Islamic Republic.
“The response to an assassination will indeed be special operations—harder and intended to instill deep regret in the perpetrator,” the Iranian Mission to the United Nations said in a statement shared with Newsweek and published on X, formerly Twitter.
The comments followed statements from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in which he asserted that Israel had “prepared a harsh punishment for itself” over its alleged role in a predawn raid early Wednesday that killed Hamas Political Bureau Chief Ismail Haniyeh hours after he attended the swearing in ceremony of newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Khamenei asserted in a statement published on his website that “we consider his revenge as a duty, calling Haniyeh “a dear guest in our home.” He also posted on X, blaming “the criminal, terrorist Zionist regime” for the killing of the top Hamas official, who he said “was willing to sacrifice his honorable life in this dignified battle for many years.”
