IRAN has ordered a “direct attack on Israel” following the killing of Hamas’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, Iranian officials have said.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued the order during an emergency meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Wednesday morning, just after Iran claimed that Haniyeh had been slain.
Iran, a staunch backer of Hamas, said it is “Tehran’s duty” to seek “revenge for Ismail Haniyeh’s blood” after he was killed in the capital.
In a statement on his official website, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said “revenge was our duty and that Israel had prepared a harsh punishment for itself by killing a dear guest in our home.”
Haniyeh’s killing also could prompt Hamas to pull out of negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage release deal in the 10-month-old war in Gaza, which US mediators had said were making progress.
And it could inflame already rising tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, which international diplomats were trying to contain after a weekend rocket attack that killed 12 young people in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
Israel carried out a rare strike Tuesday evening in the Lebanese capital that it said killed a top Hezbollah commander allegedly behind the rocket strike.
Hezbollah, which denied any role in the Golan strike, confirmed the death of Fouad Shukur on Wednesday, saying he was in the building that was hit.
The strike also killed three women and two children, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
The Middle East is now teetering at its most tumultuous point since the October 7 massacre last year which sparked a brutal war in Gaza.
Iran and Hamas accused Israel of Haniyeh’s assassination.
But Israel, which is at war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, has neither admitted nor denied murdering the terror boss, who was in Tehran to attend Iran’s new president’s inauguration.
The assassination was potentially explosive amid the region’s volatile, intertwined conflicts because of its target, its timing and the decision to carry it out in Tehran.
Most dangerous was the potential to push Iran and Israel into direct confrontation if Iran retaliates.
The US and other nations scrambled to prevent a wider, deadlier conflict.
Iran’s chilling order came shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s broadcast speech on Wednesday night.
Speaking at a news conference in Tel Aviv, the PM said that when it comes to threats against Israel, the country is prepared for any scenario.
He vowed: “Israel will make anyone who is against us pay a very heavy price.”
Netanyahu added he “will not give in” to voices calling for the end to the war.
“There has not been a single week when I have not been told domestically and from outside the country: end the war,” he said.
“I did not give in to those voices and I will not give in to them today.”
The Israeli Prime Minister also said the government has made “brave, courageous decisions” despite external pressure.
He said: “We will continue to fight together, and with God’s help, we will reign victorious.”
Iran revealed its bone-chilling war chest in April, including terrifying long-range missiles that can cross the Red Sea to pummel Israel directly.
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By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
Haniyeh, one of the founding members of the terror group, unflinchingly represented the bloodthirsty clan for decades, even past the death of his own children.
The 62-year-old was responsible for running Hamas’ political operations from Doha, Qatar’s capital.
Born in a refugee camp in northern Gaza, he lead the group through several wars with Israel and served as a fundamental power player for the cult.
Over the last ten months he had been responsible for conducting ceasefire talks, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US.
He survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 2003, before the IDF took out his mentor – the founder of Hamas itself Sheik Ahmed Yassin – in 2004.
Standing outside a hospital in Gaza at the time, the man who would become one of Hamas’ principal leaders urged people not to cry but to focus on revenge instead.
By 2006 he was working as the leader of Hamas in Gaza, a position now held by Israel’s number one enemy – Yahya Sinwar.
He moved to Qatar in 2017 when he was named as the group’s new political leader.
The group was trying to change its image at the time as it made bids across the international stage for more influence.
Haniyeh represented the Iran-backed terror proxy in Qatar, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran and Egypt.
His ruthless approach to furthering the Hamas agenda would overrule even the assassination of his own children and grandchildren years later.
In April this year an Israeli airstrike killed three of Haniyeh’s sons and four of his grandchildren.
In June, Hamas claimed his sister and her family were also killed by an Israeli strike.
Haniyeh simply said at the time: “We shall not give in, no matter the sacrifices.”
He added that he had lost dozens of family members over years of war between Hamas and Israel.
The terror boss was given news of his children’s deaths while on a hospital visit. After hearing the news, he continued to tour the building as normal.
Haniyeh spent time inside Israeli prisons in the 1980s and 1990s.
By 1988 he was among the founding members of Hamas, working under Yassin.
His assassination serves as a fundamental blow to Hamas – with leaders dubbing it a “treacherous Zionist raid” on Wednesday morning.
