Iran has a duty to avenge assassination of Hamas chief, says supreme leader

Avenging the assassination of the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, is now Tehran's duty as his killing occurred while he was a guest on Iranian soil, the country's supreme leader has warned.

- Patrick Wintour

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described Haniyeh's killing, which Tehran views as a provocation designed to escalate the conflict in the Middle East, as a "bitter and difficult incident that happened in the territory of the Islamic republic".

The episode has plunged Masoud Pezeshkian, the Iranian president, into a major crisis in his first days in office as he faces internal demands to respond to the humiliating targeting of an ally visiting Tehran for his own inauguration - even as he seeks better ties with the west.

Mohammad Reza Aref, the newly appointed vice-president, said the west was complicit in this manifestation of "state terrorism" through its silence at Israel's actions.

He said: "This desperate act was based on sinister goals, including creating a new crisis at the regional level and challenging the regional and international relations of the Islamic Republic of Iran."

The powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said: "This crime of the Zionist regime will face a harsh and painful response from the powerful and huge resistance front."