Report: Tehran may go after individuals responsible for killing Haniyeh rather than attacking Israel

Iran may choose to target the individuals it believes are responsible for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week, rather than launching an attack on Israel, The Guardian reports.

According to the report, Tehran could retaliate for the assassination of Haniyeh, which it has blamed on Israel despite Jerusalem neither confirming nor denying responsibility, by targeting people it believes to be working with or members of Israel’s Mossad security agency.

Reports following Haniyeh’s death have claimed that Mossad agents enlisted operatives from within Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to plant explosives in the room the Hamas chief was staying in for the swearing-in ceremony of new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Tehran is weighing its options as it faces intense diplomatic pressure not to escalate tensions in the region in any way that could result in an all-out war.

During a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation called by Iran Wednesday to discuss the assassination, Pakistan’s foreign minister was said by the Guardian to have voiced opposition to an Iranian attack on Israel, and said that while Haniyeh’s death must be answered for, Iran “must not fulfill (Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu’s design for a wider war.”