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Iran believes Israel behind assassination of Hamas leader — diplomat

According to Nasser Kanani Chafi, despite the fact that Israel bears full responsibility for the assassination, the US is also involved in it

DUBAI, August 5. /TASS/. All the evidence collected by Iran indicates that Israel is behind the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the Palestinian movement Hamas, the country’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanani Chafi told reporters.

"Everything proves that the Zionist regime (Israel - TASS) is behind the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh. <...> No one but Israel benefited from this assassination, and the statements of some officials of the Zionist regime confirm this," Kanani emphasized.

According to him, despite the fact that Israel bears full responsibility for the assassination, the US is also involved in it, as "it is its duty to stop supplying weapons and put pressure on the Zionist regime to prevent murders and crimes."

The spokesman emphasized that Tehran is not interested in escalating tensions in the Middle East and that Israel is the source of instability in the region. "If Iran talks about the right to punish the aggressor (Israel - TASS), it will be an action that will only help strengthen security," he added.

The Palestinian Hamas movement announced on July 31 that the head of its political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an Israeli strike on his residence in Tehran, where he was attending the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. The Al Hadath TV channel reported that Haniyeh was killed in a direct missile hit. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC, Iran's elite military units) said that Haniyeh was killed by a short-range projectile with a warhead weighing about 7 kilograms, adding that his assassination was organized by Israel with US support. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned that Israel will be severely punished for the killing of the Palestinian politician.