BANGKOK, July 31. /TASS/. Should Iran respond with a heavy hand to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the Palestinian movement Hamas, tensions in the Middle East could overflow and lead to World War III, an international affairs expert said.

"Israel naturally hopes that Iran will retaliate against Israel. Israel's goal is that if Iran retaliates violently, it will drag the United States into war, hoping to overthrow governments that threaten Israel's security. However, it seems that this is an option for which the United States is not quite ready, but if necessary, it will be difficult to avoid. Therefore, what we need to watch from now on is how Iran will respond. If Iran responds strongly, it could lead to a regional war that could escalate. But if the response is on the same level as Iran did in April, which was a limited attack that did not cause much damage, the conflict may not escalate as it did before," Roostum Vansu, lecturer at the Institute for Peace Studies, Prince of Songkla University, said.

"The least extreme scenario is that Iran retaliates with limited, if not no, armed retaliation. The major powers will try to use diplomatic channels to defuse the conflict. Israel claims victory in the war, leading to a ceasefire and an end to the current war. The most extreme scenario is Iran retaliates heavily, Israel goes to war with Iran, drags the US into it, China and Russia into the war, and of course, World War III begins," the expert opined.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (elite units of the armed forces) said Wednesday morning that Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the Palestinian movement Hamas, had been assassinated. Hamas said he was killed in an Israeli strike on a veteran’s residence he was staying at in Tehran, where he had arrived for the inauguration of the country's president-elect, Masoud Pezeshkian. The missile was launched "not from the territory of Iran itself," but "from another state," according to Al Mayadeen. Deputy Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau Mousa Abu Marzook has warned that the assassination of Haniyeh will not go unanswered.

Israeli authorities declined to comment to CNN on Haniyeh's death. According to the Jerusalem Post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office instructed ministers not to comment on the issue. The newspaper added that lawmakers had received similar instructions.