Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in ‘missile attack’ in Tehran

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran, Iran, the Palestinian group Hamas announced on Wednesday. The Islamist faction expressed its grief, stating that Haniyeh died in “a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran.”

Iranian media confirmed that Haniyeh was killed by an air-launched missile while staying in a residence for war veterans in north Tehran.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed the attack on his residence, which also resulted in the death of an Iranian bodyguard. They mentioned that Haniyeh was in Iran to attend President Masoud Pezeshkian’s inauguration and that an investigation into the “incident” is ongoing.

Haniyeh, the exiled political chief of Hamas, had spent recent years in Qatar. During the Israel-Gaza war, he acted as a negotiator in ceasefire talks and maintained close ties with Iran, Hamas’s main ally. While Israel has not commented on Haniyeh’s death, Hamas accused it of responsibility.

Previously, Israel claimed a targeted strike on Tuesday against a Hezbollah commander linked to a rocket explosion in Majdal Shams. Lebanese media reported the strike hit a residential building in Beirut’s Haret Hreik neighborhood, causing injuries and damage to an adjacent hospital.

World leaders condemned Haniyeh’s assassination. Russia’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Bogdanov labeled it an “unacceptable political assassination,” warning of escalated tensions. Turkey’s foreign affairs ministry denounced the “shameful assassination,” suggesting the attack aimed to regionalize the Gaza conflict.

Hamas vowed to avenge Haniyeh’s death. Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk called the assassination a “cowardly act that will not go unpunished,” while Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri described it as a grave escalation that would not achieve its objectives.