ME on edge as Khamenei orders attack on Israel for Haniyeh’s killing

Ag AFP

TEHRAN/NEW YORK: Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has issued an order for Iran to strike Israel directly, in retaliation for the assassination in Tehran of Hamas’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, according to three Iranian officials briefed on the order, New York Times reported.

The killing of Haniyeh in an air strike in Tehran on Wednesday blamed on Israel has stunned the international community. Israel has not commented on the death but many countries have warned that it could help turn the Gaza war into a regional conflict.

Hamas said Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran, where he was attending the swearing-in of the new president and vowed the act “will not go unanswered”.

A report said Khamenei gave the order at an emergency meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Wednesday morning, shortly after Iran announced that Haniyeh had been killed, said the three Iranian officials, including two members of the Revolutionary Guards. They asked that their names not be published because they were not authorised to speak publicly.

In April, Iran made its biggest and most overt attack on Israel in decades of hostility, launching hundreds of missiles and drones in retaliation for an Israeli strike on its embassy compound that killed several Iranian military commanders in Damascus, Syria. But even that show of force was telegraphed well in advance, nearly all the weapons were shot down by Israel and its allies, and little damage was done.

Now it is unclear how forcefully Iran will respond, and whether it will once again calibrate its attack to steer clear of escalation. Iranian military commanders are considering another combination attack of drones and missiles on military targets in the vicinity of Tel Aviv and Haifa, but would make a point of avoiding strikes on civilian targets, the Iranian officials said. One option under consideration is a coordinated attack from Iran and other fronts where it has allied forces, including Yemen, Syria and Iraq, for maximum effect, they said.

Khamenei, who has the last word on all state matters and is also the commander in chief of the armed forces, instructed military commanders from the Revolutionary Guards and the army to prepare plans for both an attack and a defence in the event that the war expands and Israel or the United States strike Iran, the officials said.

In his public statement about Haniyeh’s assassination, Khamenei signaled that Iran would retaliate directly, saying, “we see avenging his blood our duty,” because it happened on the territory of the Islamic Republic. He said Israel had set the stage for receiving “a severe punishment.”

Statements from other Iranian officials, including the new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, the foreign ministry, the Guards and Iran’s mission to the UN, also said openly that Iran would retaliate against Israel and that it had a right to defend itself against a transgression on its sovereignty.

Iran and the regional forces it backs — Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and multiple militias in Iraq — form what they call the “axis of resistance.” Leaders of those groups were in Tehran for the inauguration of Pezeshkian on Tuesday. Haniyeh was assassinated at about 2 am local time, after attending the ceremony and meeting with Khamenei.

The killing shocked Iranian officials, who described it as crossing red lines.

It was a humiliating security breach for a country eager to project strength but long frustrated by its inability to prevent Israel from carrying out covert operations on its soil. The embarrassment was compounded by Haniyeh’s prominence, the presence of other allies, and that he was attacked at a highly secure Revolutionary Guards guesthouse on a day of heightened security in the capital.

Many Iranian supporters of the government and officials expressed outrage at the failure to thwart the assassination, saying only a handful of senior security officials would have known where Haniyeh was staying. Some took to social media to say that Iran’s first priority should be to clean house and ensure the safety of its senior officials.

“Before revenge first ensure the safety of the supreme leader,” said Alireza Katebi Jahromi, a journalist and supporter of Iran’s government, in a post on X.

Iranian officials don’t view Haniyeh’s assassination as just Israel’s opportunistic killing of one of its foes, but also as an affront to their security apparatus that suggests anyone in Iran, at any level, could be targeted and killed.

Analysts said that Iran sees retaliation as necessary for both avenging the assassination of Haniyeh but also deterrence against Israel killing other powerful enemies, like Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, or Gen Ismail Qaani, the commander of the Quds Forces who oversees the militant groups outside Iran.

“Iran likely believes it has no choice other than retaliating to deter further Israeli attacks, defend its sovereignty, and preserve its credibility in the eyes of its regional partners,” said Ali Vaez, the Iran director of the International Crisis Group.

Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a statement later Wednesday: “The Zionists will soon see the consequences of their cowardly and terrorist act. Such measures are a sign that the policies of the Zionist regime have reached a dead end.”

The Gulf emirate of Qatar, which has been spearheading efforts with Egypt and the United States to broker a ceasefire in Gaza, said the killing of Haniyeh, Hamas’s lead negotiator, threw the whole process into doubt. “Brother leader, mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement, died in a Zionist strike on his residence in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of the new (Iranian) president,” the Palestinian militant group said in a statement.

Qatar’s prime minister, who has spearheaded efforts to broker a truce and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, said Haniyeh’s killing threw the whole mediation process into doubt. “How can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side?” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani asked in a post on X. “Peace needs serious partners.”

Qatar’s foreign ministry called the killing a “heinous crime” and “shameful assassination”.

The ministry said: “This assassination and the reckless Israeli behaviour of continuously targeting civilians in Gaza will lead to the region slipping into chaos and undermine the chances of peace.”

Hamas political bureau member Musa Abu Marzuk vowed the group would retaliate. “The assassination of leader Ismail Haniyeh is a cowardly act and will not go unanswered,” he said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also announced the death, saying Haniyeh’s residence in Tehran was hit and he was killed along with a bodyguard.

Iranian media said the 2:00 am (2230 GMT) strike targeted “the special residences for war veterans in north Tehran” where Haniyeh was staying. Haniyeh had travelled to Tehran to attend Tuesday’s swearing-in of Pezeshkian.

The government, following the news of the killing, declared three days of national mourning.

An “official and public” funeral ceremony for Haniyeh will be held in Tehran on Thursday before his body is flown to Qatar, his base in recent years, for burial on Friday, Hamas said.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas condemned Haniyeh’s killing as a “cowardly act”. Palestinian factions in the Israeli-occupied West Bank called for a general strike and protest marches across the territory.

Egypt’s foreign ministry said that Israel’s “dangerous escalation” in recent days “risks igniting a confrontation in the region that could yield to dire security consequences”. Iraq’s foreign ministry also called Haniyeh’s killing “a threat to security and stability in the region”. Oman also condemned the action.

Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned what he called the “perfidious assassination” of his “brother” Haniyeh. “This shameful act aims to sabotage the Palestinian cause, the glorious Gazan resistance and our Palestinian brothers’ just fight, and to intimidate Palestinians,” Erdogan added in a social media post.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that a ceasefire in Gaza was still the “imperative”. Speaking at a forum in Singapore, Blinken refused to comment directly on the killing of Haniyeh, but said reaching a ceasefire in Gaza “is the enduring imperative”.

Speaking in a interview with Channel News Asia, Blinken said the United States was “not aware of or involved in” the strike that killed Haniyeh.

Pakistan also condemned Haniyeh’s assassination, expressing serious concern over the growing Israeli adventurism in the region. “We are deeply shocked by the timing of this reckless act, coinciding with the inauguration of the President of Iran, an event attended by several foreign dignitaries, including the deputy prime minister of Pakistan,” according to a Foreign Office press release.

Extending condolences to his family and the people of Palestine, the Foreign Office spokesperson reiterated that Pakistan condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations including extrajudicial and extraterritorial killings, irrespective of the motives. “Pakistan views with serious concern the growing Israeli adventurism in the region. Its latest acts constitute a dangerous escalation in an already volatile region and undermine efforts for peace,” the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, Russia “strongly condemned” the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, warning it could trigger a fresh round of escalation in the Middle East. “We believe that such actions are directed against attempts to restore peace in the region and could significantly destabilise an already tense situation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov had earlier called the attack a “completely unacceptable political assassination,” in comments to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.

“There is no doubt that the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh will have an extremely negative impact on mediated contacts between Hamas and Israel,” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement. “The organisers of this political assassination were aware of the dangerous consequences for the entire region,” it added.

The foreign ministry called on all sides to exercise restraint and avoid further steps “that could lead to a dramatic deterioration in the region’s security and provoke a large-scale armed confrontation”.

China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lin Jian said: “We are highly concerned about the incident and firmly oppose and condemn the assassination.”

The European Union has urged all sides to avoid escalation. “We call on all parties to exert maximum restraint and avoid any further escalation,” EU spokesperson Peter Stano said. “No country and no nation stand to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East.”

Lebanese militants Hezbollah, who are in a growing standoff with Israel, said in a statement: “The martyrdom of leader Haniyeh... will increase the determination and stubbornness of the mujahideen resistance fighters on all resistance fronts... and will make their resolve stronger in confronting the Zionist enemy.”

The group described Haniyeh as “one of the great resistance leaders of our time who stood bravely against the American hegemony project and the Zionist occupation.”

“Targeting him is a heinous terrorist crime and a flagrant violation of laws and ideal values,” said Mohammed Ali al-Huthi, a political bureau member of Yemen’s Huthi rebels, who have staged rocket attacks on Israel.

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers called Haniyeh´s death “a great loss”.

The UN Security Council was to hold an emergency meeting at 1:00am Pakistani time (20:00 GMT) on Thursday. The meeting was requested by Iran and supported by representatives of Russia, China and Algeria.

Concern grew among Israelis over the fate of the dozens of hostages still held captive in Gaza.

Haniyeh’s killing “was a mistake as it threatens the possibility of having a hostage deal,” said Anat Noy, a resident of the coastal city of Haifa.

The Tehran strike which killed Haniyeh came hours after Israel said it had killed senior Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in a strike on the group’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs. In an official statement on its Telegram channel, Hezbollah confirmed the death of Fuad Shukr.

Chairing a cabinet meeting Wednesday, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati warned: “The strike on the southern suburbs is a strike on... efforts for calm.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced strikes on Beirut and Tehran as a “dangerous escalation.” “The Secretary-General believes that the attacks we have seen in South Beirut and Tehran represent a dangerous escalation at a moment in which all efforts should instead be leading to a ceasefire in Gaza”, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said that Israel faces “challenging times ahead” but that it is “prepared for all scenarios”.

In a televised statement, Netanyahu said: “Citizens of Israel, challenging days lie ahead. Since the strike in Beirut there are threats sounding from all directions. We are prepared for any scenario and we will stand united and determined against any threat. Israel will exact a heavy price for any aggression against us from any arena.”

Netanyahu also said Israel had delivered crushing blows to Iran’s proxies over the past few days, including Hamas and Hezbollah. But he did not mention Haniyeh’s killing, which has drawn threats of retaliation.