Iran says Hamas leader Haniyeh was killed by ‘short-range projectile’

TEHRAN, Iran 

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Saturday that Israel killed Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh using a “short-range projectile” launched from outside of his accommodation in Tehran.

“This terrorist operation was carried out by firing a short-range projectile with a warhead of about 7 kilograms — causing a strong explosion — from outside the accommodation area,” the Guards said in a statement.

It added that Israel was “supported by the United States” in the attack.

Haniyeh was killed early Wednesday in the Iranian capital where he was attending the swearing-in of the new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iran and Hamas have vowed to retaliate.

The Guards repeated their insistence that Haniyeh would be avenged and that Israel would receive “a severe punishment at the appropriate time, place and manner.”

Israel, which has declined to comment on Haniyeh’s killing, had earlier struck a Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut.

That strike killed a senior commander of the Lebanese militant group it blamed for a deadly weekend rocket strike on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

The killings are the latest of several major incidents that have inflamed regional tensions during the Gaza war, which has drawn in Iran-backed militant groups in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

In Iran, the voices clamouring for revenge have intensified since Haniyeh’s killing.

On Saturday, the ultraconservative Kayhan daily said retaliatory operations were expected to be “more diverse, more dispersed and impossible to intercept.”

“This time, areas such as Tel Aviv and Haifa and the strategic centers and especially residences of some officials involved in the recent crimes are among the targets,” the newspaper said in an opinion piece.