MOSCOW, August 2. /TASS/. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Acting Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ali Bagheri Kani condemned the assassination of Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh and warned of potential escalation in the region against this backdrop.
"The parties condemned the assassination of the head of the Hamas Politburo in Tehran during his visit to the inauguration ceremony of President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian. They pointed out that political assassinations were unacceptable and have extremely dangerous consequences, fraught with a sharp escalation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone and a landslide degradation of the regional situation," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"The organizers behind such provocations clearly expect to disrupt the already stalled negotiation process and are counting on involving the United States in military actions in order to consign to oblivion the UN resolutions on the creation of a Palestinian state," the statement says.
According to the statement, Lavrov called on "all parties without exception that could influence the situation in the Gaza Strip and in the Middle East in general to avoid actions that could result in further destabilization of the situation and new casualties among the civilians."
On July 31, Hamas reported the death of its political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh as a result of an Israeli strike on his residence in Tehran, where he was taking part in the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian. The Al Hadath TV channel reported that Haniyeh had lost his life to a direct missile strike. Mousa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, vowed that this assassination would not go unpunished.
The Israeli military has not commented on the death of Haniyeh. According to The Jerusalem Post, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanuyahu prohibited its ministers from speaking out publicly on the issue. Similar instructions were given to lawmakers.