Iran’s “Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led the funeral prayers for slain Hamas terrorist leader Ismail Haniyeh during a ceremony at Tehran University on Thursday.
Hamas leaders and Iranian government officials have vowed revenge against Israel and the United States for Haniyeh’s death.
The body of Haniya, who was killed in Tehran on Wednesday, Carried Thousands of mourners marched in a funeral procession through the city waving flags of Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran’s terrorist proxy in Lebanon.
“The criminal and terrorist Zionist regime should prepare to severely punish itself for this act. I consider it our duty to avenge the blood of his martyrdom on the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Khamenei said at the funeral.
Khamenei also paid tribute to Wassim Abu Shaaban, the bodyguard who was killed alongside Haniyeh. The New York Times (New York Times) Thursday Quote Iranian and American officials said Haniyeh and his bodyguard were killed several months ago when a bomb hidden in a Tehran guesthouse was detonated remotely.
The Israeli government has neither confirmed nor denied any involvement in Haniya’s death. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Claimed Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that the Biden administration had no knowledge of the operation that killed Haniyeh, but Iranian officials still accused the United States of complicity in the killing.
“Details of the assassination plot are still unclear, but preliminary investigations suggest the direct involvement of the Israeli regime and a go-ahead from Joe Biden’s administration in Washington,” Iran’s state-run Press TV reported. Said In a report on Haniya’s funeral.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf said: candidate Israeli Foreign Minister Haniyeh, whose recent snap presidential elections were ultimately won by “moderate” Massoud Pezechkian, said at the funeral that Israel had killed Haniyeh because it had “desperated” at not being able to defeat Hamas in Gaza.
Qalibaf called Israel an “apartheid” state and threatened retaliation against Israel and the United States for killing Haniyeh in a “hit-and-run.”
“It is our duty to respond at the right place and the right time,” he said, vowing to make Israel pay a “heavy price” at a time chosen by Iran.
Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official who was once Haniya’s deputy in the political bureau, Said The funeral showed that Hamas was undeterred by Haniyeh’s removal.
Haya said Haniya’s “slogan” – “We will not recognise Israel” – would be “immortalised” after his death.
“We will pursue Israel until we drive it out of Palestinian land,” he vowed, to which the Iranian audience responded with chants of “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
