Iran is preparing to carry out an order from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to “severely punish” Israel for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, a deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said.
“The orders of the Supreme Leader regarding the severe punishment of Israel and revenge for the blood of the martyr Ismail Haniyeh are clear and explicit… and they will be implemented in the best possible way,” Ali Fadavi was quoted as saying by Iranian media on Friday.
Hamas political leader Haniyeh, 62, was killed in the Iranian capital Tehran in July after attending the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Hamas and Iran have accused Israel of responsibility for Haniyeh’s killing, but the Israeli government has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.
Since then, Tehran has vowed to retaliate against Israel, which has a history of assassinating enemies across the region, including in Iran.
Asked by reporters to respond to the Iranian remarks, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the United States was prepared to defend Israel with ample resources in the region.
“When we hear rhetoric like that, we have to take it seriously, and we do,” Kirby said Friday.
Last week, the US military also announced the deployment of additional assets to the Middle East, including an aircraft carrier, amid growing concerns about the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.
But the United States and other Western countries have also called for de-escalation. On Thursday, the United States, Qatar and Egypt issued a joint statement urging Israel and Hamas to resume negotiations to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Marwan Bishara, Tel Aviv Tribune’s senior political analyst, said the US does not want a broader regional escalation ahead of the November elections.
“The fact that Washington – alongside other mediating countries – is pushing for ceasefire negotiations in Gaza to take place… is a sign that it wants to put as much pressure as possible on Iran and delay a possible strike against Israel,” he said.
Bishara added, however, that the chances of Netanyahu agreeing to a ceasefire “have almost always been zero.”
According to Bishara, Hamas will want real guarantees that the war will not continue, that reconstruction can take place and that Israeli soldiers will withdraw from the enclave.
It is also uncertain whether Iran will back down from its response to Haniyeh’s assassination if a ceasefire is reached in Gaza.
On Wednesday, Hamas chose Yahya Sinwar, its top official in Gaza, to succeed Haniyeh as head of its political bureau.
Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’s military wing, said the Qassam Brigades supported Sinwar and were “fully prepared to carry out his decisions.”
In a brief statement Friday, Obeida said Sinwar’s appointment as the group’s new political leader proves that Hamas “is still alive and strong.”
Tel Aviv Tribune journalist Hamdah Salhut reported from Amman, Jordan, that the resumption of ceasefire talks would mark the first round of negotiations with Sinwar as Hamas leader. It was unclear how Sinwar, who is wanted by Israel and is in an undisclosed location in Gaza, would be able to convey messages to the mediators.
Salhut added that Netanyahu “is himself considered a hardliner and has issued a list of non-negotiable points ahead of the mediation.”
“So it remains to be seen exactly what comes out of these discussions, but there are certainly a lot of tensions throughout the region that countries like the United States are trying to defuse by saying that maybe a ceasefire agreement in Gaza could help regional stability,” she said.
