- Iran arrests senior officials in probe of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination
- IRGC reports attack on Haniyeh used a 7-kg warhead launched from the outside
TEHRAN: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced on Saturday that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated with a “short-range projectile with a warhead of approximately 7 kilograms” in Tehran on Wednesday.
In a statement released on Saturday, the IRGC said the attack originated from outside the immediate area where Haniyeh was staying.
“This action was designed and implemented by the Zionist regime and supported by the criminal government of America,” the IRGC statement added.
This marks the first time the IRGC has publicly disclosed the exact cause of Haniyeh’s death.
The Palestinian leader and his bodyguard were killed in an Iranian government guest house in Tehran in the early hours of Wednesday.
Haniyeh had gone to the Iranian capital to attend the inauguration of Iran’s newly elected Masoud Pezeshkian.
During the past three days, speculations abounded whether a long-range missile was fired from outside Iran’s borders or launched from an aircraft over Iranian airspace.
The IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency had previously released a photo of the damaged residence, stating that Haniyeh was killed while staying on the fourth floor of a building in Zafaraniyeh in northern Tehran.
Iranian media, including the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, previously reported, quoting Khaled Qaddoumi, Hamas’ representative in Tehran, that Haniyeh’s death was caused by a missile or rocket fired from outside the building toward the room where he was staying.
This contradicts reports by The New York Times and Telegraph, which claimed that the attack was carried out by planting a bomb in Haniyeh’s room.
The Telegraph reported that Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, hired Iranian security agents to plant explosives in three separate rooms of a building where a Hamas leader was staying.
The original plan was to assassinate Ismail Haniyeh, the political head of the Palestinian militant group, in May during the funeral of former Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, according to the report. However, the operation was aborted due to the many people inside the building and the high possibility of failure.
The New York Times, citing five Middle Eastern officials, stated that a bomb was hidden in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-run guesthouse in the Neshat compound in northern Tehran.
The newspaper detailed that the explosion, which occurred around 2am local time, was triggered remotely and caused significant damage. It shook the building, shattered windows, and partially collapsed an exterior wall.
Regardless of the method employed, it is evident that even Iranian officials acknowledge a significant failure on Iran’s part to protect Haniyeh, highlighting a profound lapse in security measures.
According to three Iranian officials speaking to The New York Times, this breach represents “a catastrophic failure of intelligence and security for Iran and a tremendous embarrassment for the Guards, who use the compound for retreats, secret meetings, and housing prominent guests like Mr. Haniyeh.”
Senior officials arrested in probe into Hamas leader’s assassination
Iran has commenced a comprehensive investigation into the assassination of Hamsa leader Ismail Haniyeh at his Tehran guesthouse, the New York Times reported.
The investigation’s intensity highlights the damaging and shocking nature of the security breach.
In response to this significant security lapse, Iran has arrested more than two dozen individuals, including senior intelligence officers, military officials, and staff at a military-run guesthouse in Tehran.
These arrests follow a major breach that enabled the assassination of the prominent Hamas leader, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
The high-level arrests occurred after Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an explosion early Wednesday. Haniyeh, who had led Hamas’s political office in Qatar, was visiting Tehran for the inauguration of Iran’s new president and staying at the guesthouse in northern Tehran.
The fervent response to Haniyeh’s killing underscores the devastating nature of the security failure for Iran’s leadership. The assassination took place at a heavily guarded compound in Tehran, mere hours after the swearing-in ceremony of the new president.
“The perception that Iran can neither protect its homeland nor its key allies could be fatal for the Iranian regime because it basically signals to its foes that if they can’t topple the Islamic Republic, they can decapitate it,” said Ali Vaez, the Iran director for the International Crisis Group.
Officials from both the Middle East and Iran have indicated that the deadly blast resulted from a bomb planted in Haniyeh’s room up to two months before his arrival, according to the NYT.
