IRGC says 'short-range projectile' killed Hamas leader

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Saturday that Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a “short-range projectile” launched from outside his residence in Tehran.

“This terrorist operation was carried out by launching a short-range projectile with a warhead of approximately 7 kilograms, accompanied by a severe explosion, from outside the residential area of the guests,” read a statement from the IRGC published by Tasnim News.

It added that Israel received support from the United States in the operation and vowed to take revenge at the “appropriate time, place, and manner.”

Tasnim news, citing an informed source, dismissed a report by the New York Times that Haniyeh was killed by a bomb planted in his room in advance.

Haniyeh was killed in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Tehran, hours after attending the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Both Hamas and Iran have vowed vengeance. Turkey, China, and Russia were among those who condemned the killing.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the assassination.

Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari told reporters on Thursday that Tel Aviv did not carry out any airstrikes in Iran the night Haniyeh was killed. 

"I want to make things clear: there was no other Israeli aerial attack, neither by missile or drone, that night in all the Middle East. I won't say anything more,” he was cited by the AFP as saying.

Iran is a staunch supporter of Hamas and expectations are it will carry out a direct retaliatory attack on Israel for the second time in decades. Tehran fired hundreds of projectiles and weaponized drones at Israel earlier this year in response to a deadly attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus.

The killing of Haniyeh comes against the backdrop of soaring tensions between Israel and Iran-backed groups in the Middle East.

The Israeli army announced on Tuesday that it killed Fuad Shukr (also known as Sayyid Mushan), the right-hand man of Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and the group’s senior military commander in an airstrike in Beirut.