Calls for revenge as Iranians mourn Hamas leader's death

Ayatollah Khamenei has reportedly ordered that Iran strike Israel directly

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TEHRAN – Iranians turned out to mourn the death of Ismail Haniyeh on Aug 1, with calls for revenge a day after Hamas’ political chief was assassinated in Iran’s capital in an attack blamed on Israel.

This comes amid new reports that Haniyeh was killed with an explosive device covertly smuggled two months earlier into the guest house where he was staying.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, led prayers at Haniyeh’s funeral at Tehran University, where thousands of mourners dressed in black chanted “Death to Israel!” and “Death to America!”.

Iran’s state television showed the coffins of Haniyeh and his bodyguard covered in Palestinian flags during the ceremony attended by senior Iranian officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief, General Hossein Salami.

The caskets, with a black-and-white pattern resembling a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, were borne on a flower-decorated truck through city streets jammed with mourners cooled by water spray on a hot day.

Haniyeh’s body will be flown to Qatar for burial on Aug 2.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had announced Haniyeh’s death. It said he and a bodyguard were killed in a strike on their accommodation in the Iranian capital at 2am (6.30am Singapore time) on July 31.

Citing seven Middle Eastern officials, The New York Times reported on Aug 1 that the bomb that killed Haniyeh was detonated remotely once it was confirmed that he was inside the Tehran guest house run and protected by the Revolutionary Guards.

The explosion shook the building, shattered some windows and caused the partial collapse of an exterior wall, the Times said, citing two Iranian officials.

Haniyeh was said to have stayed at the guest house several times when visiting Tehran.