Opinion in Iran divided on how to respond to Israeli attacks after Haniyeh assassination
Iranians are really irritated by these ongoing killings because this is not the first assassination to have happened in Iran.
In particular, Iranian nuclear scientists have been targeted. And after October 7 when we’ve seen Israel attacking Iranian assets within the country and across the Middle East – in Iraq and Syria, killing the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and so on.
On the other hand, the Iranian public is quite concerned about any serious retaliation that could lead to a regional war.
So on the one hand, there are expectations that the government should do more when it comes to such attacks from Israel. But on the other hand, they do not want a regional war.
Haniyeh assassination carried out amid Israel’s killing of thousands of Palestinians
University of Tehran’s Tohid Asadi said the funeral of Haniyeh in Tehran marked a “very sad moment” for many Iranians and people around the world who support the Palestinian cause.
“What adds to this sadness is the very fact that it takes place in the broader context in which the brutal Zionist regime is killing ordinary citizens on a daily basis. Thousands of them in the past months,” Asadi told Al Jazeera, referring to the war in Gaza.
“It’s more proof of Israeli aggression that takes place on the ground, targeting Iranian sovereignty,” Asadi said of the assassination of Haniyeh in Tehran.
“They are mad at this current, ongoing situation,” he said.
“Also added to that is the fact that [the killing] is taking place at a politically significant moment in Iranian history. It took place only hours after the new [Iranian] president’s inauguration, and that added to the complexity,” he added.
Iran ‘determined’ to defend national security, sovereignty after Haniyeh killing
Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s acting foreign minister, has sent a letter to the UN secretary-general, the head of the UN Security Council and the secretary of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to express condemnation over the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
In the letter, Bagheri reiterated that Iran is “determined to take every necessary measures to defend its national security and sovereignty against any transgressions”.
He added: “This act of terror is just another manifestation of Israel’s decades-long pattern of terrorism and sabotage targeting Palestinians and other supporters and sympathizers of the Palestinian cause across the region and beyond.”
Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, was killed in the early hours of Wednesday in a missile strike targeting the residence he was staying at in the Iranian capital. Iran and Hamas have blamed Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied carrying out the strike.
