Iran says it has moral duty to punish Israel for killing Hamas leader

Iran has called in foreign ambassadors based in Tehran to warn of the country's moral duty to punish Israel for what it sees as its "adventurism" and lawbreaking in assassinating Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader, a week ago in the Iranian capital.

- Patrick Wintour

Iran has also secured an emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) tomorrow, at which it will try to press Arab states to back its right to take actions against Israel in reprisal.

Many leaders in the Gulf are willing to condemn Israel's actions but have also been calling for Iran to show restraint. The meeting will be held at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Israeli leaders have said they are prepared for an Iranian-led attack. The defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said in response to mounting Iranian threats yesterday that the Israeli military was ready for a "swift transition to offence", echoing comments by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Sunday the country was already engaged in a multifront war with Iran and its allies.

The former Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in May, had failed in efforts to win the support of Gulf states for military action or direct economic sanction.