UNITED NATIONS, July 31. /TASS/. Iranian authorities will respond to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the Palestinian movement Hamas, in Tehran with special operations, the country’s UN mission said.
"The response to an assassination will indeed be special operations - harder and intended to instill deep regret in the perpetrator," the mission said in a statement on its X page.
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.