 "Mossad enlisted IRGC agents to plant bombs that killed Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh: Report")
A report on the death of Hamas’ political head Ismail Haniey suggested that Israel’s Mossad enlisted Iranian security agents to plant explosives in the Tehran guesthouse where he was residing. According to a report in The Telegraph, the initial plan was to assassinate Haniyeh back in May when he visited Tehran to attend the funeral of former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
Two Iranian officials, who asked to remain anonymous told The Telegraph that the operation wasn’t executed in May due to the large crowds inside the building and the high possibility of its failure. As per the report, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) agents planted explosives in three separate rooms of a building which was housing Haniyeh.
The Iranian officials who spoke to The Telegraph said that they accessed CCTV footage in which the IRGC agents could be seen walking stealthily as they entered and exited multiple rooms within minutes. Shortly after conducting the operation, the operatives snuck out of the country.
A Mossad plot
The Iranian officials maintained that they were almost certain that Mossad was involved in the assassination. However, it is pertinent to note that Israel has neither accepted nor denied its role in Haniyeh’s killing.
“They are now certain that Mossad hired agents from the Ansar al-Mahdi protection unit,” an official within the IRGC told The Telegraph from Tehran, referring to an IRGC unit responsible for the safety of high-ranking officials.
He said: “Upon further investigation, they discovered additional explosive devices in two other rooms.” “This is a humiliation for Iran and a huge security breach," a second official told the British news outlet.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“It’s still a question for everyone how it happened, I can’t make sense of it. There must be something higher up in the hierarchy that no one knows about,” he added. Amid the chaos, the officials also revealed that there has been an internal blame game that is being played out as different sectors within IRGC are accusing each other of security failure.
Addressing security breaches more important than revenge for Khamenei
According to the report, Esmail Qaani, the commander of the IRGC Quds force, has been summoning people to be fired, arrested and possibly executed. “The Supreme Leader has summoned all the commanders several times over the past two days, he wants answers," one of the sources revealed.
“For him, addressing the security breach is now more important than seeking revenge," he added. Interestingly, this is not the first time concerns have been raised over Israel’s influence within IRGC. In 2020, Ali Younisi, Iran’s former intelligence minister said in an interview that “All the officials of the Islamic Republic should be worried about their lives.”
“If the Zionist regime has not yet targeted the political authorities of the Islamic Republic, it is because it has not chosen to do so. This negligence to Mossad has allowed it to strike repeatedly and openly threaten the officials of the Islamic Republic," he added.
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