Iran vows 'harsh punishment' for air strike killing of Hamas chief

IRAN warned Israel of "harsh" revenge yesterday, hours after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated on its soil.

- Mark Reynolds

The militant group's political chief was killed in an air strike as he slept while visiting Iran's capital Tehran as a guest of its government.

Hours earlier, Israel killed a senior Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr, in a strike in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

The Tehran attack, which happened in the early hours of yesterday, sparked fury across Iran.

The nation's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that avenging Haniyeh's death was now "Tehran's duty".

He said Israel had provided the grounds for "harsh punishment".

Senior Hamas figures, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called Haniyeh's death an "assassination" and vowed to retaliate. Iran's newly sworn-in President Masoud Pezeshkian said he would make the Jewish state regret the killing of a "brave leader" and Iran would "defend its territorial integrity, honour, pride and dignity".

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu warned last night that his country "will exact a heavy price from any aggression against us on any front".

He did not mention Haniyeh's killing, but said Israel had delivered crushing blows to Iran's proxies over the past few days, including Hamas and Hezbollah.