Iranian “Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led funeral prayers for slain Hamas terrorist chief Ismail Haniyeh in a ceremony at Tehran University on Thursday.
Hamas leaders and Iranian government officials swore revenge against Israel and the United States for Haniyeh’s death.
The body of Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran on Wednesday, was carried through the city in a funeral procession attended by thousands of mourners waving the flags of Iran, Hamas, and Iran’s terrorist proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah.
“The criminal and terrorist Zionist regime should prepare the ground for a severe punishment for itself with this act, and we consider it our duty to avenge his blood as he was martyred in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Khamenei said at the funeral ceremony.
Khamenei also eulogized Wasim Abu Shaaban, a bodyguard who was killed alongside Haniyeh. The New York Times (NYT) on Thursday quoted Iranian and American officials who said Haniyeh and his bodyguard were killed when a bomb hidden in their Tehran guesthouse months ago was detonated remotely.
The Israeli government has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in Haniyeh’s death. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted on Wednesday that the Biden administration was unaware of any operation to eliminate Haniyeh, but Iranian officials still accused the U.S. of complicity in the killing.
“The details of the assassination plot aren’t known yet, but the preliminary investigation points to the direct role of the Israeli regime and the green light from the Joe Biden administration in Washington,” Iran’s state-run PressTV said in its report on Haniyeh’s funeral.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, one of the candidates in the recent emergency presidential election ultimately won by “moderate” Masoud Pezeshkian, said at the funeral that Israel killed Haniyeh because it is “desperate” due to its inability to defeat Hamas in Gaza.
Qalibaf called Israel an “apartheid” state and threatened retaliation against Israel and the U.S. for their alleged “hit and run” killing of Haniyeh.
“It is our duty to react at the right place and the right time,” he said, vowing to make Israel pay a “heavy price” at a time of Iran’s choosing.
Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, formerly Haniyeh’s deputy at the political bureau of the terrorist organization, also said at the funeral that Hamas is undeterred by the elimination of Haniyeh.
Hayya said Haniyeh’s “slogan” — “We will not recognize Israel” — would become “immortal” after his death.
“We will pursue Israel until it is uprooted from the land of Palestine,” he vowed. His Iranian audience responded with chants of “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
