Killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week will be a costly mistake for Israel. Acting Foreign Minister of Iran stated this in an interview on Thursday.
“The act that the Zionists carried out in Tehran was a strategic mistake because it will cost them gravely,” Ali Bagheri said one day after attending an extraordinary session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah.
Although Israel has not commented on Haniyeh’s death, Iran has vowed to retaliate, setting the region on edge.
Bagheri accused Israel of wanting “to expand tension, war and conflict to other countries,” while asserting it was not in a position to fight Iran.
“The Zionists are in no position to start a war against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said.
“They neither have the capacity nor the strength.”
Meanwhile, the meeting of foreign ministers from the 57-member OIC produced a declaration holding Israel “fully responsible” for the “heinous” killing of Haniyeh. Haniyeh lived in Qatar and was a major player in talks to end the war in the Gaza Strip.
The war began with Hamas’s October 7 attacks on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,699 people, including women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Hamas’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah has also pledged to retaliate for Haniyeh’s killing and that of its military commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli strike in Beirut hours earlier.
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.
