Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has promised “harsh punishment” for Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
“The criminal and terrorist Zionist regime martyred our dear guest in our house and made us bereaved,” Khamenei said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that “it also prepared the ground for a harsh punishment for itself.”
He said it was Iran’s duty to avenge the assassination of Haniyeh, who was in the Iranian capital for the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian.
“We consider it our duty to avenge his blood in this bitter and difficult incident that happened in the territory of the Islamic Republic,” Khamenei said, as he offered his condolences to Haniyeh’s family and the Palestinian group.
Iran has announced three days of public mourning across the country for Haniyeh.
A funeral ceremony will be held in Iran on Thursday, after which Haniyeh’s body will be transferred to Doha, Qatar, Hamas said in a statement on its Telegram channel.
He will be buried in the Qatari capital on Friday, the group announced.
Israel has yet to comment on the attack but has previously promised to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders after the October 7 attack on southern Israel which led to the killing of about 1,139 people and triggered Israel’s war on Gaza, which has so far killed more than 39,400 people.
Israeli media reported that ministers and officials were told not to comment on Haniyeh’s killing.
Pezeshkian promised that his country would “defend its territory” and make the attackers “regret their cowardly action”.
Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the attack showed that the “Zionist gang of criminals, murderers and terrorists” had no regard for international rules.
“Undoubtedly, this crime of the Zionist regime will face a harsh and painful response from the powerful and huge resistance front, especially Islamic Iran,” the statement read.
Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon, Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem said the “big question” is what Iran will do in response to the attack on its soil.
“The repercussions are going to be big for the whole region. This could mean an Iranian attack on Israel. I cannot imagine what will happen next,” Hashem said.
In April, an Israeli strike on Iran’s consulate in the Syrian capital, Damascus, killed 13 people, including an IRGC commander. Iran responded by launching a barrage of missiles and drones on Israeli territory.
