Iran’s statement on Saturday appeared to try to push back against reporting by the New York Times suggesting Haniyeh was killed by a bomb snuck into the building months before the assassination took place. An operation to plant an explosive in a guesthouse used by close Iranian allies would have had to penetrate many more layers of Iranian security than an attack launched from the outside.
Hamas officials have also said that Haniyeh was killed by a rocket or missile, but have emphasised that they want to wait until Iran has completed its investigation. The group’s representative in Tehran commented on the killing on Friday, saying in an interview with the London-based New Arab outlet that he was in the building at the time of the attack.
The guesthouse “was shaking so hard that he thought it was an earthquake or a thunder, but it was neither,” he said.
Tensions are high in the region amid concerns that Iran will strike Israel in the coming days in retaliation for the assassination. The United States has repositioned military assets in the region, including warships and fighter jets, to help defend Israel against such an attack. Some commercial airlines have cancelled flights this month due to the looming threat, which was reportedly ordered by Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the aftermath of the killing.
The situation is also tense across the border in Lebanon as skirmishes between Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group and political party, and Israel threaten to turn into a full-scale war. With flights out of Lebanon also being cancelled, the United States Embassy in Beirut urged any Americans there who sought to leave to “book any ticket available to them, even if that flight does not depart immediately or does not follow their first-choice route.”
The British Embassy in Beirut urged Britons not to travel to Lebanon, writing on X on Saturday that for those who were already there: “You should leave while commercial flights remain available.”
