Iran Says Haniyeh Was Killed by a ‘Short-Range Projectile,’ Not Planted Bomb

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement on Saturday that Hamas’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed by a “short-range projectile” in Tehran, contradicting reports that he was killed by a planted explosive.

According to Iran’s PressTV, the IIGC said the “attack involved the use of a short-range projectile armed with a warhead weighing approximately seven kilograms, which subsequently caused a massive explosion.”

Haniyeh was killed while staying at a heavily guarded official guest house in Tehran during a visit for the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. The New York Times and several other Western media reported he was killed by an explosive that was planted in the guest house by Israeli intelligence months earlier, but Hamas officials and eyewitnesses say a projectile hit the building.

“I was there, and the wall and ceiling of the place where he was were collapsed. It is clear from the appearance of the place after the attack, and from the body of the martyr leader Ismail Haniyeh, that the targeting was carried out by an air-dropped projectile,” Khaled Kaddoumi, Hamas’s representative in Iran, told The Cradle.

Discussing the reports of a bomb being planted in the building, Kaddoumi said, “The narrative published by The New York Times about Mossad agents planting explosive devices inside the apartment where Haniyeh stayed is completely fabricated … They are trying to evade responsibility and its consequences for Israel.”

Israel has a history of conducting covert attacks and assassinations inside Iran. Operations in recent years have involved gunmen, small quadcopter drones, and planted explosives at nuclear facilities.

Iran is vowing revenge for the killing of Haniyeh, and a major attack on Israeli territory is expected to happen soon. The US has deployed more military assets to the region and has said it will help defend Israel from any reprisal.