UNITED NATIONS, August 1. /TASS/. Russia views the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran as an attempt to drag Iran into the confrontation that gripped the region, Russia's first deputy envoy to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said on Wednesday.

"Russia strongly condemns the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the politburo of the Palestinian movement Hamas, in a missile attack on his residence in Tehran overnight into July 31. This provocative attack was carried out while the Hamas leader was in Iran on an official invitation to attend the inauguration ceremony of the President-elect of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian. Those behind this political assassination had to realize how dangerous the consequences could have been for the entire region," the diplomat said at a UN Security Council meeting. "Such attempts to drag Iran into the regional confrontation destabilize the already highly charged atmosphere in the region."

"The misguided practice of targeted liquidations of prominent political and military figures is bringing the Middle East to the brink of a region-wide war," Polyansky went on to say.