The targeted killing of Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on the early morning of July 30, purportedly by Israel has put the West Asian conflict into a deadly spiral.
Aside from a successfully intercepted drone and missile attack on Israel on April 13, Iran had thus far avoided a direct all-out war with Israel.
On Wednesday, Iran’s all-powerful supreme leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei minced no words that a direct Iranian offensive was on the way.
Khamenei said: “The criminal and terrorist Zionist regime martyred our dear guest in our homeland and left us bereaved, but it also set the ground for a harsh punishment for itself.”
“…We consider it our duty to avenge his blood in this bitter and horrific incident that came to pass in the Islamic Republic's territory."
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) too put out a statement vowing that the Axis of Resistance and ”especially Iran” will hit back, indicating an impending direct attack by Iran.
Symbolic of deadly intent, Iran raised the red flag of Imam Hossein over the Jamkaran Mosque in Qom—an act that followed after the April 1 assassination of General Qasem Soleimani on January 3, 2020, near the Baghdad International Airport. Soleimani headed the al-Quds Force, the most elite unit of the IRGC.
Haniyeh, along with many global leaders, including senior Indian minister Nitin Gadkari, were in Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian.
The killing also puts into light the extent to which Israeli intelligence and security forces have penetrated into Iran.
The 62-year-old Hamas leader, who assumed the leadership role in the organization in 2017, was staying in accommodation facilitated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in north Tehran.
Although three of his sons were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza in April, Haniyeh had been among the main voices in supporting a peace plan. His death will strengthen the military leadership of the organisation led by militaristic leaders like Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif.
Already under a lot of domestic pressure, an all-out war would also help Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to uplift his political fortunes as his tenure is expected to continue only till the tenure of the war. Corruption charges, anger over Israel’s failure to stop last year’s October 7 attack by Hamas in Gaza, continue to plague him.
There is seething anger against Netanyahu also because of his inept handling of the hostage crisis. Many Israeli hostages have died in Israeli bombings and friendly fire ordered by the PM.