Hamas leader’s assassination in Tehran an embarrassing security lapse for Iran

The assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, where he was an official guest at the inauguration of new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, is an embarrassing security lapse for Iran’s leadership.

Haniyeh was staying at a special residence for war veterans in north Tehran when the facility was hit at 2 am local time by an airborne projectile, according to reports by state-run media outlets affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Supreme National Security Council. One of his bodyguards was killed along with him.

The description of the facility where Haniyeh was being housed suggests it was under Iran’s security establishment, making the security failure all the more serious. Both Hamas and the IRGC blamed the killing of Haniyeh on Israel, which has so far made no claim of responsibility.

Israel has shown in recent years that it can infiltrate Iran and carry out high-profile assassinations, such as the killing of top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh with a remote-controlled gun in November 2020.

Haniyeh, who was based in Qatar and Turkiye and headed Hamas’s political bureau, had emerged as the face of the militant group’s diplomatic efforts since the start of the conflict in Gaza on October 7 last year. He had participated in talks brokered by Arab states and the West to put in place a ceasefire in Gaza.

Haniyeh was killed hours after he participated in the swearing-in ceremony for Pezeshkian, which was also attended by Union minister Nitin Gadkari. Coming close on the heels of the killing of top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli air strike in Beirut, the assassination is expected to impact the process to secure a ceasefire and end the fighting between Hamas and Israel.

“Political assassinations and continued targeting of civilians in Gaza while talks continue lead us to ask: How can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on other side?” Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, a key mediator in the ceasefire negotiations, said on X.

Former Palestinian minister Hanan Ashrawi said on X that the killing of Shukr in Beirut and Haniyeh in Tehran are “specifically designed to inflame the whole region & sabotage any chances of a deal or deescalation”. She added, “These are attacks not just on the capitals of sovereign states but also on significant leaders to ensure total provocation & destabilisation.”

The armed wing of Hamas said in a statement that Haniyeh’s killing would take the “battle to new dimensions and have major repercussions”. Iran declared three days of national mourning and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said his country views it as a “duty to take vengeance” for Haniyeh’s assassination on Iranian soil.

“The criminal and terrorist Zionist regime martyred our beloved guest inside our house and made us mournful, but it paved the way for a harsh punishment to be imposed on it,” Khamenei said in a message.

Much will now depend on exactly how Iran, as well as Hamas, respond to Haniyeh’s killing. While Iran may not want its actions to trigger an all-out war that will have implications for West Asia and beyond, it has shown that it can strike back at Israel – such as the firing of some 300 missiles and drones in April in retaliation for an Israeli air strike on IRGC commanders at a diplomatic compound in Syria.

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