Following Israel’s confirmation Monday that it was behind the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, Iran sent a letter to the UN secretary-general Tuesday calling on it to condemn the act and claiming that it justified Iran’s massive ballistic missile attack on Israel in October.
Defense Minister Israel Katz “publicly and shamelessly acknowledged that the Israeli regime was responsible for the assassination of Mr. Ismail Haniyeh while he was visiting Tehran,” Iranian envoy to the UN Amir Saeid Iravani wrote to Antonio Guterres, deeming the act a “heinous crime.”
The letter said Israel’s “audacious and shameless confession… reaffirms the legitimacy and legality of Iran’s defensive response on 1 October 2024.”
During that attack, Iran fired around 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, sending millions of citizens into shelters across the country. The IDF said the majority of the missiles were shot down outside of the country, but some damage was caused to military bases.
Iran argued that the UN Security Council “must not allow the continued impunity of a regime that flagrantly defies international law, destabilizes the region, and threatens and endangers international peace and security.
“The continued silence of the Security Council, entrusted with the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, would not only embolden this terrorist regime [to commit] more atrocious crimes but also undermine the core principles upon which the United Nations was founded.”
In a shameless admission, the regime’s Minister of Warmongering confessed to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader and former Prime Minister of Palestine, during his visit to Tehran. This brazen act underscores Israel’s role in terrorism, legitimizes Iran’s… pic.twitter.com/hBgPpYoMi7
— I.R.IRAN Mission to UN, NY (@Iran_UN) December 24, 2024
Defense Minister Israel Katz on Monday confirmed for the first time that Israel was behind the assassination of Haniyeh over the summer. Israel had previously remained mum on the matter.
Haniyeh was killed on July 31, in a blast in the Iranian capital, hours after he attended the inauguration of new Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian.
Though initial reports said Haniyeh was killed by a missile, an August report in The New York Times said a sophisticated remote-controlled bomb was smuggled into the Tehran guesthouse he was staying in months before the assassination, and finally detonated when the Hamas leader was present.
Defense Minister Israel Katz at the Knesset on December 9, 2024 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The assassination marked a major embarrassment for Iran, which backs Hamas as well as Hezbollah, whose top commander Israel had also just killed in Lebanon.
Haniyeh was replaced as Hamas political leader by Yahya Sinwar,until then the group’s military chief, whom Israeli troops later killed in southern Gaza’s Rafah in October.
Katz’s confirmation that Israel was behind Haniyeh’s killing was offhanded, amid threats he made against the Iranian-backed Houthi group in Yemen while at a commemoration event for local security officers.
The Yemeni terror group has launched several missiles at Israel in recent days leading to retaliatory airstrikes by both Israel and the US.
“These days, when the Houthi terror organization is firing missiles at Israel, I want to convey a clear message to them: We have defeated Hamas, we have defeated Hezbollah, we have blinded the defense systems in Iran and damaged the [missile] production systems,” Katz said.
“We have overthrown the Assad regime in Syria, we have dealt heavy blows to the ‘axis of evil,’ and we will also severely strike the Houthi terror organization in Yemen, which remains the last one standing,” he continued.
Though Israel was not directly involved in overthrowing the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, it assesses that its campaign against Iran’s proxies in the region contributed to the fall of the regime.
“We will strike [the Houthis’] strategic infrastructure and decapitate its leaders. Just as we did to Haniyeh, Sinwar, and Nasrallah, in Tehran, Gaza and Lebanon — we will do in Hodeidah and Sanaa,” Katz said, referring to the slain leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah.
“Whoever raises a hand against Israel will have their hand cut off, and the long arm of the IDF will strike them and settle the score,” he added.
Katz has been known to periodically make off-the-cuff remarks on sensitive security measures without necessarily receiving approval beforehand. His comments earlier this month claiming a hostage deal was looming reportedly led to pushback from senior members of the security establishment involved in the negotiations, who said the remarks hampered their efforts.
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