The assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran has seen significant developments. Judicial assistant to the head of the judicial authority, Sadegh Rahimi, announced the formation of a legal case regarding the assassination. Rahimi indicated that the Iranian prosecutor has issued an order to identify and arrest anyone found negligent or exploited by the enemy as an agent in connection with the assassination.
Rahimi stated in a press interview that Haniyeh "was a guest in our country, and thus Iran has the legal right to respond to this cowardly assassination," according to the IRNA news agency. He added, "This crime was perpetrated by the Zionist entity, and we have no doubt about that. However, whether the Zionist entity carried out this crime directly or through agents and spies is under investigation."
Tensions in the region have escalated following Haniyeh's assassination in the Iranian capital on Wednesday, a day after an Israeli raid in Beirut that resulted in the death of Fouad Shukr, a senior military leader of the Iranian-allied Hezbollah group. The U.S. Department of Defense announced on Friday that it would deploy additional fighter jets and Navy warships to the region.
According to Jonathan Finer, deputy national security adviser, in remarks to CBS News: "The overall goal is to reduce tensions in the region while deterring and repelling those attacks, and to avoid regional conflict." Finer noted that the U.S. and Israel are preparing for all possibilities. He mentioned that the region had avoided significant escalation in April when Iran launched an attack on Israel with drones and missiles in response to what it claimed was an Israeli strike on its consulate in Damascus on April 1, which resulted in the deaths of seven Iranian Revolutionary Guard members.
Iran has arrested more than 20 individuals, including senior intelligence officers, military officials, and staff at a guesthouse managed by the military in Tehran, in response to a "huge and humiliating" security breach that allowed for Haniyeh's assassination, according to Iranians familiar with the investigation.
According to a report by the New York Times, these high-level arrests came after Haniyeh's killing, as he was visiting Tehran for the inauguration of the new Iranian president and was staying at a guesthouse in northern Tehran. The intelligence unit of the Revolutionary Guard is leading the investigation and pursuing suspects in hopes of leading them to members of the assassination team that planned, assisted, and executed the killing, according to Iranian officials who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the investigations.
