Three senior Iranian officials reported that "the only way to immediately delay Iran's response to Israel due to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas Political Bureau, on its territory is to reach a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip during the anticipated talks this week." Iran has threatened a harsh response to the killing of Haniyeh, which occurred during his visit to Tehran at the end of last month, and accused Israel of being responsible. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its responsibility, while the U.S. Navy has deployed warships and a submarine in the Middle East to support Israeli defenses.
One source, a senior security official in Iran, stated that Iran and its allies, such as Hezbollah, would launch an attack immediately if the Gaza talks failed or if they felt that Israel was stalling negotiations. The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, indicated that with the increasing risk of a broader war in the Middle East following the killing of Haniyeh and Hezbollah leader Fouad Shukr, Iran has engaged in intense dialogue with Western countries and the United States in recent days about ways to respond to Israel and the scale of that response.
