Iran blames Israel for the death of Ismail Haniyeh who was killed in Tehran last week.
ADVERTISEMENTIran has vowed to respond with "power and decisiveness" to the killing of Hamas’ top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, which it blamed on Israel.
Haniyeh died in an explosion in Tehran last week, raising fears of a major retaliatory attack and the outbreak of a wider war pitting Israel and the United States against Iran and allied armed groups across the Middle East.
Nasser Kanaani, the spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, says Iran has an "intrinsic right" to "guarantee its security and punish the aggressor."
He said Iran "will definitely take serious, deterrent actions" and that it would be acting in accordance with international law and the right of self-defence.
He added, however, that Iran "is not after intensifying tension in the region."
Meanwhile, the head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard warned that Israel was “digging its own grave” with its actions in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and that it is suspected of carrying out Haniyeh’s killing.
“When they receive a blow, they will notice they are making mistakes. They are making mistakes all the time,” Salami said in his speech at the Day of the Journalists event. “They will see the result of their mistake. They will see when, how and where they will get their response,” said the group's leader, General Hossein Salami.
It comes as a Hamas representative in Iran claims Haniyeh was killed when the building in which he was staying in Tehran was hit by a rocket or missile.
Khaled Qaddoumi told a live programme on Iranian state TV that he heard the attack take place.
He did, however, deny rumours that a bomb was planted in Haniyeh's room.
Fear of a widening war
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it launched a drone attack early Monday on northern Israel that the Israeli military said wounded two Israeli troops.
The violence came amid the rising threat of a wider regional war following the killings of Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon last week.
Israel’s defence minister says the military is prepared for a “swift transition to offence” as the country braces for an Iranian attack after the killing of Hamas’ political leader in Tehran.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke Monday at a briefing with Air Force officials. “We must be prepared for anything – including a swift transition to offence," he said.
Meanwhile, in Greece, there are fears that Iran or Iranian-backed terrorists target Israeli interests in the country after Greece’s National Intelligence Service received a warning from foreign security services.