Iran's leader orders attack on Israel for Haniyeh killing

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered to strike Israel directly for the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, according to a report Wednesday, as he and other top Iranian officials vowed a response to the Palestinian terror chief’s assassination in Tehran.

Citing three unnamed Iranian officials briefed on the matter, including two Revolutionary Guard members, US based the New York Times reported that the Iranian supreme leader gave the directive at an emergency meeting of the Supreme National Security Council held shortly after Haniyeh’s killing was announced Wednesday morning.

As part of the order, the officials said Khamenei told commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iranian Army to ready both attack and defense plans “in the event that the war expands and Israel or the United States strike Iran.”

Israel has not commented on the incident, which came amid its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and hours after an IDF strike in Beirut killed the top military commander of fellow Iran-backed Hezbollah. With Israel on high alert for a possible response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned in an address to the nation on Wednesday evening that “challenging days are ahead,” but vowed the country was “ready for every scenario” and “will exact a very heavy price for any aggression against us.”

Khamenei had hosted Haniyeh, who was visiting Tehran for the swearing-in ceremony of new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, for a meeting on Tuesday hours before he was killed.

“With this action, the criminal and terrorist Zionist regime prepared the ground for harsh punishment for itself, and we consider it our duty to seek revenge for his blood as he was martyred in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Khamenei said in a statement on the assassination carried by state media.

The Iranian officials quoted by the New York Times said that among the options being weighed are a combined drone and missile assault — similar to the direct attack on Israel several months ago — on military targets around Tel Aviv and Haifa, asserting Iran would go out of its way not to strike civilian sites.

They also said military commanders are considering launching the attack in coordination with Iranian proxies around the region “for maximum effect,” naming Yemen, Syria and Iraq among the countries where Iran’s allies operate.

Iran has in the past acted on threats to retaliate against Israel, generally through its regional proxies. However, in April, for the first time, it responded directly to the killing of a senior army general in an alleged Israeli strike in Beirut. On that occasion, Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, nearly all of which Israel was able to intercept with the help of US coordination with other forces in the region, including Britain, France, and some Arab states. Minor damage was caused to an airbase and a young Bedouin girl was seriously injured by falling shrapnel.

Noting the joint international response to that attack, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday the US “certainly will help defend Israel” if regional conflict escalates following the deaths of Haniyeh and Fuad Shukr, the Hezbollah commander.