Iran has dismissed calls from the United States and Arab nations to exercise restraint in its response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Iranian officials are currently investigating the security breaches that led to the attack.
Iranian leaders have vowed retaliation, with statements to Arab diplomats on Saturday indicating that they are prepared to risk war if necessary, according to The Wall Street Journal. The U.S. has urged partner governments in Europe and other regions to convey a message to Iran to avoid escalating tensions, emphasizing that any significant strike would prompt a response.
The message also suggested that new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s efforts to improve relations with the West would be better received if Iran showed restraint.
U.S. officials have also been urging Israel to de-escalate tensions. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack on Haniyeh, but both Iran and Hamas have accused Israel of being behind it.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, visited Tehran on Sunday to discuss ways to scale back tensions. In April, Jordan intercepted projectiles headed towards Israel during an Iranian drone and missile attack. Safadi has stated that Jordan is prepared to retake similar actions. “Anyone who wants to violate our skies, we will face that,” Safadi said last week. “Jordan will not be a battlefield. We are exposed to many consequences.”
Israel has stated its readiness to defend against and respond to any retaliatory strike. “Israel is now in a multifront war against the Iranian axis of evil,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday. “We are ready for any scenario, either defensive or offensive. I repeat to our enemies: We will respond and exact a heavy price for any act of aggression against us from any arena.”
Haniyeh, who was in Tehran to attend the inauguration of Iran’s new president, was killed by a bomb while staying in an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) guesthouse, according to The Wall Street Journal. Iran and Hamas have claimed that a missile rather than a bomb struck Haniyeh. Israel has not publicly commented on the killing.
Iran’s judiciary deputy chief, Sadeq Rahimi, announced on Saturday that the country’s public prosecutor has opened an investigation into Haniyeh’s assassination.
Rahimi stated that authorities are working to identify and arrest anyone who was negligent or knowingly collaborated with Israel in the killing, according to the local Fars news agency, which Iran’s IRGC manages.
“Whether Israel has used infiltratory elements, human agents, and spies, or committed this crime directly is under investigation,” Rahimi said, according to Mehr News, another outlet close to the IRGC.
Politicians in Tehran have criticized the attack as exposing intelligence failures within Iran’s security agencies. “There are gaps and contaminations in the security information system of the country,” said Ahmad Bakhshaish Ardestani, a member of the foreign affairs and national security commission in Iran’s Parliament, to Iran’s Didban news site.
Israel has heightened its military alertness, while U.S. officials have been coordinating with military assets and regional partners to prepare for any potential attack.
“We are preparing for every possibility, just as we did in advance of April 13 when Iran attacked Israel and the United States, and a coalition of our partners and allies worked with Israel to defeat that attack,” U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer told ABC News on Sunday.
