Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei orders to strike Israel after elimination of Ismail Haniyeh

Shortly after announcing the death of Haniyeh, Iran called out an emergency meeting

August 1, 2024

Iran’s supreme leader vows revenge after Israel strike kills top Hamas leader

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has issued an order for Iran to strike Israel directly, in retaliation for the killing in Tehran of Hamas’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, according to three Iranian officials briefed on the order.

Khamenei issued the order during an emergency meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Wednesday morning, shortly after Iran reported the death of Mr. Haniyeh. This information was revealed by three Iranian officials, including two members of the Revolutionary Guards, who requested anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly.

In a public statement about Haniyeh’s death, Khamenei signaled that Iran would retaliate directly, saying, “We see avenging his blood our duty,” because it happened on the territory of the Islamic Republic. He said Israel had set the stage for receiving “a severe punishment.”

Iran and Hamas have accused Israel of the assassination; Israel, which is at war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, has neither acknowledged nor denied killing Haniyeh, who was in Tehran for the inauguration of Iran’s new president.

Khamenei, the commander in chief of the armed forces, instructed military commanders from the Revolutionary Guards and the army to prepare plans for both an attack and a defense in the event that the war expands and Israel or the United States strike Iran, the officials said.

Statements from other Iranian officials, including the new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, the foreign ministry, the Guards, and Iran’s mission to the U.N., also said openly that Iran would retaliate against Israel and that it had a right to defend itself against a transgression on its sovereignty.

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