DUBAI, August 1. /TASS/. Iran and its regional allies are determined to take revenge on Israel for the assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Lieutenant General Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, said.

"We and the Axis of Resistance will definitely avenge [Haniyeh's] blood. This is now being considered. Various measures must be taken, the Zionists (implying the Israeli authorities - TASS) will inevitably regret this," Bagheri told the state-run IRIB TV channel at the memorial service for the head of the Hamas politburo in the Iranian capital.

At the ceremony, the Iranian army commander and the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also stressed that revenge was coming for the Jewish state. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on July 31 that Israel would be severely punished for Haniyeh's murder. "We believe it to be our duty to avenge the blood of a man who was martyred on the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran," the press service quoted Ali Khamenei as saying.

Islamic resistance forces, which Tehran considers its regional allies and calls the Axis of Resistance, include Muslim, mostly Shiite, paramilitary groups. The Palestinian Hamas movement, Lebanon's Hezbollah, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and Yemen's Houthi rebel movement Ansar Allah are among them.

On July 31, Hamas reported that Haniyeh had been killed in an Israeli strike on the residence he was staying at 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 as a direct result of the missile strike.

A source in the Israel Defense Forces told TASS that the Israeli military does not comment on the information about Haniyeh's death.