Iran says short-range missile killed Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, vows to punish Israel at 'appropriate time'

Iran has said that Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a short-range missile.

Earlier this week, Haniyeh was assassinated in the early hours of Wednesday in Tehran while he was staying at a regime’s guesthouse after attending the swearing-in ceremony of President Masoud Pezeshkian. Iran and Hamas have blamed Israel for the killing and have vowed revenge.

As opposed to the report that Haniyeh was killed by explosives planted in his rooms, Iran has now said he was killed by a missile.

In a statement on Saturday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) of Iran has said Haniyeh was killed by a “short-range projectile”, as per Reuters.

The IRGC further said that the projectile had a warhead of around 7 kg.

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The IRGC further said that it would respond to the assassination at the time and place of its choosing.

Iran’s revenge for the attack will be “severe and [taken] at an appropriate time, place, and manner” for the “adventurous and terrorist Zionist regime”, said IRGC in the statement, refusing to name Israel as Iran denies its right to exist and remains committed to its destruction.

How was Ismail Haniyeh killed?

While Iran said Haniyeh was killed by a short-range projectile, The New York Times has reported that a bomb planted in advance in Haniyeh’s room killed him.

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The newspaper said the Iranian agents had planted explosives in the room of IRGC guesthouse in which Haniyeh was staying. Once Haniyeh was confirmed to be in the room, the paper said the explosives were remotely detonated.

The targeted assassination also explains why only Haniyeh and his bodyguard staying with him were killed and even the guest next door, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah, was unscathed from the attack.

Refuting the Iranian claim that a missile was used to kill Haniyeh, The Times journalsit Farnaz Fassihi reported that the IRGC is intentionally peddling the false claim that a missile killed Haniyeh.