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Iran’s supreme leader and representatives of Palestinian militias he backs prayed Thursday over the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard who were killed in a shocking assassination blamed on Israel that risked escalating into an all-out regional war. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prayed over Haniyeh’s coffin at Tehran University while Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian stood next to him. State television later showed the coffins placed in a truck and moved on the street toward Azadi Square in Tehran and people throwing flowers at them. After the funeral services in Tehran, Haniyeh’s remains are to be transferred to Qatar for burial Friday. Haniyeh came to Tehran to attend the inauguration of Pezeshkian. Associated Press photos showed the Hamas leader seated alongside leaders from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group and Hezbollah, and Iranian media showed him and Pezeshkian hugging. Haniyeh had met earlier with Khamenei.
Iran’s Leader Orders Attack On Israel For Haniyeh Killing, Officials Say | The New York Times
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has issued an order for Iran to strike Israel directly, in retaliation for the killing in Tehran of Hamas’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, according to three Iranian officials briefed on the order. Mr. Khamenei gave the order at an emergency meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Wednesday morning, shortly after Iran announced that Mr. 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 They asked that their names not be published because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Iran and Hamas have accused Israel of the assassination; Israel, which is at war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, has neither acknowledged nor denied killing Mr. Haniyeh, who was in Tehran for the inauguration of Iran’s new president. Israel has a long history of killing enemies abroad, including Iranian nuclear scientists and military commanders.
US Senator Graham Calls For Military Force Against Iran Over Hezbollah Threats | The Jerusalem Post
Any escalation by Hezbollah against Israel that leads to a major confrontation should be viewed as an attack carried out and executed by Iran, according to a resolution South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham introduced on Wednesday. According to the resolution, the Senate "asserts that efforts to deter Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran are most credible when the President keeps all options on the table, including military force." The resolution holds Iran and Hezbollah responsible for "any adverse impacts on the people of Lebanon that result from an attack on the State of Israel by Hezbollah" and also urges Congress and the President to use "all diplomatic tools and power projection capabilities" to hold both Iran and Hezbollah accountable. Graham also introduced an Authorization for Use of Military Force which would authorize the use of US Armed Forces against Iran for threatening the national security of the US through the development of nuclear weapons.
UANI IN THE NEWS
‘Huge Embarrassment’: Haniyeh Assassination Exposes Iran’s Security Failures | Al Arabiya News
[…] Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), described the assassination as a “huge embarrassment” for Iran and a demonstration of Israel’s “intelligence and military superiority.” Haniyeh’s assassination occurred just hours after Israel targeted senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut, signaling that even Iran’s most powerful proxy can be swiftly infiltrated. Hezbollah confirmed Shukr’s death on Wednesday after Israel publicly claimed the attack. “Killing someone of Haniyeh’s stature is relatively unprecedented, and killing him hours after Iran’s presidential inauguration sends a clear signal that Israel has both the capability and willingness to target high-value figures anytime, anywhere,” Gregory Brew, a senior analyst at Eurasia Group, told Al Arabiya English. Sabet observed that this incident differed from past Israeli assassinations on Iranian soil, which typically targeted military figures or nuclear scientists, suggesting that Iran might not have anticipated such a bold move against a political figure like Haniyeh.
Iran’s Mortification Proves That Israel Is Quietly Winning The War | Telegraph
[…] According to Iran experts like Kasra Aarabi, director of Iranian Revolutionary Guard research at the respected United Against Nuclear Iran thinktank, last night’s assassination will only deepen the regime’s fear of Benjamin Netanyahu. They have watched while the Israeli leader has withstood unprecedented pressure both internationally and domestically, pressing Hamas to the brink of destruction. They know his views on Iran. He has been vocal about the threat for years, memorably brandishing a visual aid of a cartoon nuclear bomb in a speech at the United Nations, and has put cunning and steel behind his concerns. In 2018, when the Mossad pulled off the audacious theft of Iran’s nuclear archive from a nondescript commercial district on the outskirts of Tehran, Bibi was at the wheel. Two years later, when Israeli spies carried out the remarkable assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the “father of the bomb”, whose fingerprints were found all over the archive, as a Mossad source told me, Bibi was once again in office. Fakhrizadeh was killed, as I revealed at the time, by way of a one-ton automated gun that was smuggled into the country piece-by-piece by a 20-plus team of Israeli and Iranian spies. The myth of Israel’s superhuman espionage was assured.
As America insists that the time is right for a return to diplomacy following the decapitation of top Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, Israel is preparing for possible attacks from Iran and its “ring of fire” proxies. Hours after Israel announced the killing at Beirut of Hezbollah’s top military official, Fouad Shukr, Iranian state-owned media reported that Hamas’s political boss, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed at Tehran. While Israel is widely believed to be behind Haniyeh’s death, it is yet to take responsibility. “Following this bitter, tragic event which has taken place within the borders of the Islamic Republic, it is our duty to take revenge,” the regime’s supreme leader, Ali Khamanei, wrote on his X account. He reportedly ordered a direct attack on Israeli territory to avenge the Haniyeh killing. […] “They have to react, because it is such an embarrassment,” the policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran, Jason Brodsky, tells the Sun. Yet, he adds, a reaction “may be tampered by Haniyeh being an Arab.”
Professor Asher Kaufman told The Sun that Iran and its largest terror proxy Hezbollah could launch a double pronged attack against Israel after days of ratcheting tensions. Prof Kaufman warned: "The region is on edge, and I would say large parts of the global system is on edge. "I'm sure that Iranian leadership and Hezbollah are now as we speak, deliberating what should be their response and how to respond together. "To think strategically about a response that will involve Hezbollah and Iran." It comes after Hamas' political leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard were killed on Monday in a suspected Israeli precision missile strike as they slept in Tehran. Sir Ivor Roberts, senior adviser to UANI and the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), also spoke to The Sun about a possible retaliation to this week's developments. Sir Roberts, who lived in Lebanon and dealt with Hezbollah in the 1980s, said "the whole region is a tinderbox". He told The Sun that the strike on Iranian soil which killed Haniyeh is a "challenge" to the authority of the new Iranian president and a "major slap in the face".
Iran Holds Funeral For Assassinated Hamas Leader | Voice Of America
Iran held a funeral Thursday for Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, whose killing in Tehran has added to fears of a regional conflict. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attended the funeral proceedings along with Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian. Haniyeh was in Tehran for Pezeshkian’s swearing-in, and Hamas said Haniyeh will be buried Friday in Qatar where he was based. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not comment directly on the attack Thursday as he visited Mongolia, but he called for calm in the Middle East. […] Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran, told VOA that in addition to a direct attack on Israel, other options for Iran would be maritime provocations and ramping up its nuclear program. "It can also attempt terror plots throughout the region and also elsewhere abroad, targeting Israeli diplomatic facilities and installations in those countries," Brodsky said. "There are a variety of options that the Islamic Republic will try to employ. But at the same time, the Islamic Republic does not want to get involved likely in a direct war between with Israel and the United States, because in that contest, the Islamic Republic stands to lose mightily."
TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
Iran's Supreme Leader To Lead Funeral Prayers For Hamas Leader Haniyeh | Reuters
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei will lead funeral prayers for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Thursday, Iran's state-run Press TV said. The funeral will be held in the Iranian capital Tehran, Press TV added.
Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran early on Wednesday morning, an attack that drew threats of revenge on Israel and fuelled further concern that the conflict in Gaza was turning into a wider Middle East war.
Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh Killed In Tehran - What We Know So Far | Reuters
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated early on Wednesday morning in Iran, the Palestinian militant group and Tehran said. This is what we know about the killing of Haniyeh, which was widely assumed to have been carried out by Israel though its government made no claim of responsibility and said it would make no comment on the incident. DETAILS OF ASSASSINATION: Iran's Revolutionary Guards confirmed the death of Haniyeh, who was the face of Hamas' international diplomacy as the war triggered by the Islamist group's attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year has raged in Gaza. Haniyeh was killed around 2 a.m. (2200 GMT) on Wednesday, Iranian media reported. He was staying at "a special residence" for war veterans in north of Tehran, the Iranian capital. NourNews, an outlet affiliated with Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Haniyeh's residence was hit by an airborne projectile. The assassination was "a dangerous gamble to undermine Tehran's deterrence", it said. POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES: Hamas said it would continue the path it was following in the Gaza war, saying: "We are confident of victory." Israel is not seeking to escalate war, but is prepared to handle all scenarios, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
US Senator Introduces Bill To Hold Iran Accountable For Proxy Attacks | The National
US Senator Lindsey Graham on Wednesday introduced bills to hold Iran accountable for any escalatory action from Hezbollah and to authorise military force to deter a nuclear breakout in Tehran. “It's time to end the charade that the world is plagued by Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran,” Mr Graham said in a media briefing. “They're one industry.” One of the bills urges Washington “to use all diplomatic tools available” to hold Hezbollah and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps accountable for “repeated acts of terrorism” against the US. The bill comes as an Israeli strike on Beirut that killed Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukr and the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh threaten to throw the region into further turmoil. Israel blamed Mr Shukr for orchestrating a strike in Majdal Sham in the occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 children. After Mr Haniyeh's killing, Iran's mission to the UN said that the operation “could not have occurred without the authorisation and intelligence support of the United States” and the response would be “harder and intended to instil deep regret in the perpetrator”.
Blinken Calls On 'All Parties' In Middle East To 'Stop Escalatory Actions' | AFP
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday urged "all parties" in the Middle East to stop "escalatory actions" and achieve a cease-fire in Gaza, after Hamas's political leader was killed in a strike in Tehran that Iran blamed on Israel. The strike that killed Ismail Haniyeh came just hours after Israel said it had killed a top Hezbollah commander in a retaliatory strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut. The killings took place as regional tensions were already inflamed by the war in Gaza, a conflict that has drawn in Iran-backed militant groups in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen. Israel has declined to comment on the Tehran strike. Speaking in the Mongolian capital, top U.S. diplomat Blinken warned the Middle East was on a path "toward more conflict, more violence, more suffering, more insecurity, and it is crucial that we break this cycle." "That starts with a cease-fire that we've been working on," Blinken told reporters alongside his local counterpart.
US Troops May Be In Crosshairs As Iran Blames US For Haniyeh Killing | Al-Monitor
The Biden administration swiftly denied any involvement or foreknowledge of the suspected Israeli assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Iran’s capital on Wednesday. Both Tehran and Hamas blamed Israel for Haniyeh's death, with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) vowing a "hard and painful response" that it said will be delivered in coordination with its proxy militias across the region. “The response to an assassination will indeed be special operations — harder and intended to instill deep regret in the perpetrator,” Iran's diplomatic mission to the United Nations said in a statement. Iran's mission to the UN also accused the United States complicity in a letter to the Security Council on Wednesday. "This act could not have occurred without the authorization and intelligence support of the US," the note read.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the EU- and U.S.-designated Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, in Tehran has sent shock waves across the region, once against raising the specter of all-out war between Iran and its archfoe, Israel. Haniyeh was killed early on July 31 in an affluent neighborhood of Tehran, soon after attending the inauguration of President Masud Pezeshkian in parliament. His killing is the latest in a string of assassinations in and around the Iranian capital in recent years that the Islamic republic has blamed on Israel, which has not claimed any of the incidents. Analysts say Haniyeh's assassination is a major hit to the already tarnished reputation of Iran's security apparatus and will prompt Tehran to retaliate, though that response is unlikely to come directly from the Islamic republic. Just hours before the Palestinian leader's death, Israel claimed it killed a top commander of the Lebanese militant group Hizballah in an air strike in Beirut.
IRANIAN REGIONAL AGGRESSION
Iran’s Options For Retaliation Risk Escalating Middle East Crisis | The New York Times
Most new Iranian presidents have months to settle into the decades-old cadence of gradual nuclear escalation, attacks against adversaries and, episodically, secret talks with the West to relieve sanctions. President Masoud Pezeshkian had 10 hours. That was the elapsed time between his swearing-in and the explosion inside an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps guesthouse, at 2 a.m. in Tehran, that killed Ismail Haniyeh, the longtime political leader of Hamas. Mr. Haniyeh had not only attended the swearing-in, but had also been embraced by the new president and met that day with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, making the assassination a particularly brazen act. Now Mr. Pezeshkian — along with Ayatollah Khamenei and top military generals — will be immersed in critical choices that may determine whether war breaks out between two of the Mideast’s most potent militaries.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Iran had planned to use this week’s inauguration of its new president to show off its powerful collection of militias. Representatives of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Yemen’s Houthis and Lebanon’s Hezbollah all gathered in Tehran, where Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh hugged new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian amid chants of “Death to Israel.” But before the next day dawned, it was Haniyeh who was dead, in a mysterious strike in the Iranian capital that Hamas blamed on Israel. It came just hours after the Israeli military said it had killed a top Hezbollah official with an airstrike in Beirut.
Iran’s Leader Orders Retaliatory Strike On Israel, NYT Says | Bloomberg
Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered a direct strike on Israel in retaliation to what it said was the assassination of Hamas’ top leader while in Tehran, the New York Times reported. Khamenei gave the order at an emergency meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Wednesday morning, the newspaper reported, citing three sources it didn’t identify.
Through nearly 10 months of intense war with Hamas in Gaza, Israel has fought a parallel, slower-paced conflict with Hamas’s allies across the Middle East in which all sides have risked major escalation but ultimately avoided dragging the region into a bigger, multi-front war. The attacks on two of Israel’s leading foes on Tuesday and Wednesday have created one of the biggest challenges to that equilibrium since the fighting began in October. Israel’s Tuesday night strike on Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut, was the first time during this war that Israel has targeted such an influential Hezbollah leader in Lebanon’s capital. Hours later, the killing in Iran of Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was considered the most brazen breach of Iran’s defenses since October. Taken together, the seniority of the targets, the sensitive location of the strikes and their near simultaneity were viewed as a particularly provocative escalation that has left the region fearing an even bigger response from Iran and its regional proxies, including Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty met Iran's new President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of his inauguration ceremony, marking the latest indication of Cairo and Tehran warming ties, a continuation of a process that began under the former Iranian leader. The trip, which included a meeting with Mr Pezeshkian and Iran's acting Foreign Minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, is the latest move in warming ties between the two countries which have been strained for decades. After meeting Mr Abdelatty, the Iranian president described Iran and Egypt as “two brotherly countries” whose nations have a “heartfelt affection” for each other. He also expressed hope that the obstacles to the normalisation process would be completely resolved “as soon as possible”. “Iran and Egypt can resolve many regional problems through co-operation with each other,” Mr Pezeshkian said, adding that the Islamic Republic of Iran is “ready to co-operate and exchange experiences, capabilities, and mutual capacities with Egypt”. Mr Abdelatty praised the smooth transition of power to Mr Pezeshkian after his predecessor Ebrahim Raisi, under whose leadership the rapprochement with Cairo was initiated, died in a helicopter crash in May.