Tehran is under pressure to avenge the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, but analysts said it is balancing multiple factors as it weighs a response.

The crisis comes at an especially delicate moment in Iran, which analysts say is trying to formulate a response that doesn’t let an assassination on its soil go unpunished, while avoiding an all-out war against a powerful adversary. It also comes as a new government in Tehran has taken office, which could be slowing a decision on how to respond.

Iran and Hamas officials have promised to avenge the death of Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Hamas leader, who was killed in Tehran on July 31 after he attended the inauguration of Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian. Iran, which backs Hamas, blamed Israel for the assassination. Israeli leaders have not said their forces were responsible.

A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaan, said that “it is necessary to punish Israel,” echoing comments from other senior Iranian officials. But he also said that “Tehran is not interested in escalating the regional conflicts.”

  • @gedaliyahOPM
    8•3 months ago

    Let’s not get carried away. Iran is still arming radical extremists including Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and Asad. They are a pretty big part of this mess already. But any imperial power knows that it’s one thing to arm militant groups but another entirely to commit your own army.

    • @chonglibloodsport
      13•3 months ago

      Iran is also supplying large numbers of drones to Russia who uses them to kill Ukrainian civilians.

    • @[email protected]
      -2•3 months ago

      Israel attacked a sovereign nation. The other nation said it will retaliate but doesn’t necessarily want to escalate. I don’t see how I’m getting carried away.

      • @samokosik
        -1•3 months ago

        Yeah because terrorists such as Hezbollah and Hamas totally don’t attack Israel

          • @samokosik
            0•3 months ago

            Iran funds those terrorists.

            So you are essentially saying that if Israel created a terrorist organization, started attacking Iran via it and then Iran responds to Israel, it would be Iran who is the aggressive one and starting the conflict, right?