Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a "short-range missile" fired at his residence in Tehran in an operation attributed to Israel by Iran, the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic, announced today.
"Based on the results of the investigation, this terrorist operation was carried out by firing a short-range projectile with a warhead of about seven kilograms from a place outside the place where the dignitaries were staying, which caused a strong explosion," the Revolutionary Guards announced, as reported by the official Iranian news agency IRNA.
They added that the US supported Israel in that operation.
Ismail Haniyeh was killed on Wednesday in the residence of ex-combatants in the northern part of Tehran after attending the inauguration of the Iranian president.
That Islamist Palestinian movement, Iran and its allies blamed the attack on Israel, which has not commented, and vowed to retaliate.
Iranian media reported earlier that the leader of Hamas (61) was killed by an aerial missile.
The New York Times, citing five Middle Eastern officials who did not want to be named, said Thursday that he was killed by a bomb that had been hidden for about two months in a Revolutionary Guard-protected residence in northern Tehran.
Israel will certainly receive an answer to that crime, in a way, at a time and in a place that will be appropriate, the Guardians of the Revolution announced today.
The murder of Ismail Haniyeh happened a day after the Israeli attack in which the military leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Fouad Choukr, was killed, near Beirut.
The two attacks are reviving fears of a widening war between Israel on the one hand and Iran and the groups it supports in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen on the other.
As Iran and its allies prepare a response, the ultraconservative Kayan daily wrote today that they should strike Tel Aviv and Haifa and target Israeli officials.
"Zones such as Tel Aviv and Haifa and strategic centers and above all the residences of some of the officials involved in the recent crimes are part of the targets for retaliation," the daily wrote.
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