Secretary of State Antony Blinken has firmly denied U.S. involvement in the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, a top Hamas leader, who was killed early Wednesday morning in Tehran. During a multi-country trip to the Indo-Pacific, Blinken said that the U.S. had no knowledge or role in the incident.
At a separate event in Singapore, Blinken reiterated his support for a cease-fire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. He described such a deal as crucial for improving the situation and reaffirmed the U.S.’s commitment to working towards it daily. Blinken admitted it was challenging to predict how Haniyeh’s death might affect the negotiations aimed at halting the Gaza conflict and securing the release of 116 hostages held by Hamas.
Haniyeh, who had been living in exile in Qatar, was in Tehran when he was killed by a drone or rocket strike on his building, according to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Iranian government and Hamas have accused Israel of orchestrating the assassination and have vowed retaliation.
While Israel has not officially commented on Haniyeh’s death, it is unusual for Israel to carry out strikes on Iranian soil due to the risk of escalating conflicts. However, Israel has been implicated in previous attacks within Iran, such as the targeted killings of Iranian scientists in 2020 and a limited strike in April following a major drone and rocket attack by Tehran.
The assassination comes a day after Israel targeted and reportedly killed a top military commander of Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Beirut in retaliation for a rocket attack that killed 12 Israeli children. The ongoing cross-border skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah have raised fears of a broader war, even if a cease-fire is achieved in Gaza, where the conflict has already claimed over 39,000 Palestinian lives.
Haniyeh’s death represents a significant blow to Hamas, where he had been a leading figure since 2017 and a prominent face of the group’s political leadership.
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