Iran held funeral processions on Thursday for Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh after he was killed in a strike in Tehran blamed on Israel. The Islamic republic\u2019s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led the prayers for Haniyeh ahead of his burial in Doha, having earlier threatened a \u201charsh punishment\u201d for his killing. In the capital\u2019s city centre, mourning crowds carrying posters of Haniyeh and Palestinian flags gathered at Tehran University on Thursday morning, according to an AFP correspondent. Haniyeh\u2019s death was announced the day before by Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards, who said he and his bodyguard were killed in a strike on their accommodation in the Iranian capital at 2:00 am (2230 GMT) on Wednesday. It came just hours after Israel targeted and killed top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in a retaliatory strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut, sending fears of a wider regional war soaring. Israel has declined to comment on the Tehran strike. Khamenei, who has the final say in Iran\u2019s political affairs, said after Haniyeh\u2019s death that it was \u201cour duty to seek revenge for his blood as he was martyred in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran\u201d. The Hamas leader was in Tehran for the inauguration ceremony of newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday. The Iranian president said Wednesday that \u201cthe Zionists (Israel) will soon see the consequences of their cowardly and terrorist act\u201d. Hamas political bureau member Musa Abu Marzuk also vowed retaliation, saying: \u201cThe assassination of leader Ismail Haniyeh is a cowardly act and will not go unanswered.\u201d The international community, however, called for de-escalation and a focus on securing a ceasefire in Gaza. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the strikes in Tehran and Beirut represented a \u201cdangerous escalation\u201d. All efforts, he said, should be \u201cleading to a ceasefire\u201d in Gaza and the release of hostages taken during Hamas\u2019s October 7 attack on southern Israel. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said Wednesday that a ceasefire in Gaza was still the \u201cimperative\u201d, with White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby later adding that the twin killings \u201cdon\u2019t help\u201d regional tensions. From the early hours of Wednesday, crowds took to the streets in cities across Iran and the Middle East to condemn Haniyeh\u2019s killing, with hundreds gathering in Tehran\u2019s Palestine Square to chant \u201cDeath to Israel, Death to America\u201d. The Islamic republic has not yet published any information on the exact location of the strike. While Iran has blamed the attack on its arch-foe, Israel has declined to comment on Haniyeh\u2019s death. It did, however, claim the killing of Shukr, whom it blamed for a deadly weekend rocket strike on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. The killings come with regional tensions already inflamed by the war in Gaza, a conflict that has drawn in Iran-backed militant groups in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen. One of those groups, Yemen\u2019s Houthi rebels, \u201cdeclared three days of mourning\u201d for Haniyeh, with political leader Mahdi al-Mashat expressing \u201ccondolences to the Palestinian people and Hamas\u201d over his killing, according to the group\u2019s Saba news agency. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, meanwhile, spoke by phone after the attack with his acting Iranian counterpart Ali Bagheri to discuss \u201cthe latest developments in the region\u201d. The UN Security Council also convened an emergency meeting Wednesday at Iran\u2019s request to discuss the strike, with Tehran\u2019s envoy Amir Saeid Iravani urging members to take \u201cimmediate action to ensure accountability for these violations of international law\u201d. Hamas has for months been indirectly negotiating a truce and hostage-prisoner exchange deal with Israel, with Egypt, Qatar and the United States facilitating the talks. Analysts told AFP that Haniyeh was a moderating influence within the Islamist group, and that while he would be replaced, the dynamics within Hamas could change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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