The Israeli spy agency Mossad hired Iranian security agents to plant explosives in a Tehran guesthouse where Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was staying, the UK-based newspaper The Telegraph reported on Saturday. The initial plan was to assassinate Haniyeh during his visit to Iran in May for the funeral of former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
However, the UK newspaper said the operation was called off due to concerns about a large crowd and the likelihood of failure. Despite this, two agents proceeded to plant explosives in three rooms of the guesthouse, which is frequented by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
READ MORE: Ismail Haniyeh Killed Using Bomb Planted Months Ago Inside Tehran Guesthouse He Frequented: Report
Mossad hired agents
The agents were reportedly seen on CCTV entering and exiting the building quickly. After leaving Iran, they detonated the explosives remotely, killing Haniyeh. An IRGC official told the newspaper that “They are not certain that Mossad hired agents from the Ansar al-Mahdi protection unit,” an IRGC unit responsible for protecting high-ranking officials. “Upon further investigation, they discovered additional explosive devices in two other rooms,” they added.
The assassination has sparked outrage within Iran, with officials calling it a significant security breach and a humiliation for the country. Internal investigations are ongoing, and the IRGC is reportedly considering retaliatory measures against Israel. Haniyeh was buried in Qatar on Friday following his assassination in the Iranian capital Tehran, and his possible succcessor told mourners his death would only make the Palestinian militant group more determined in its struggle against Israel.
Iranian pledge to retaliate
Hamas’ top leader’s death was one in a series of killings of senior Hamas figures as the war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel nears its 11th month and concern grows that the conflict is spreading across the Middle East. Hamas and Iran have both accused Israel of carrying out the assassination and have pledged to retaliate against their foe. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the death nor denied it.
On Friday, Haniyeh was laid to rest in a cemetery in the city of Lusail after a funeral ceremony at the Iman Mohamed Ibn Abd Al-Wahhab Mosque in Qatar’s capital Doha. His coffin, draped in the Palestinian flag, was carried in a procession past hundreds of people along with the casket of his bodyguard, who was killed in the same attack in Tehran on Wednesday. Haniyeh was killed by a missile that hit him directly in a state guesthouse in Tehran where he was staying, senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya said in Tehran.
The strike was one of several recent hits that have killed senior figures in Hamas or the Lebanese movement Hezbollah in a conflict that is now stretching from Gaza to the Red Sea and the Lebanon-Israel border and beyond. In the US, President Joe Biden said Haniyeh’s killing was not helpful to international efforts to secure a ceasefire in the war in Gaza. “It doesn’t help,” Biden told reporters on Thursday when asked if the action ruined the chances of a truce.
(With agency inputs)
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