Iran decline 'hasty action' against Israel for killing of Hamas political leader

A spokesperson for the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has disclosed that Iran will not be in haste to retaliate against Israel for the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Ali Mohammad Naeini said on Tuesday, “Time is on our side and the waiting period for this response may be prolonged.” 

CNN reports that the Middle East has been on high alert since last month’s assassination of Haniyeh in Tehran, which came the day after Hezbollah commander Fu’ad Shukr was killed in an airstrike in Beirut.

Israel took responsibility for the killing of Shukr, but has not confirmed or denied its role in Haniyeh’s death.

Iran and its regional allies – Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza – blamed Israel for both killings and promised to retaliate, spurring weeks of high-wire diplomacy to prevent the breakout of a full-scale regional war.

But the comments from the IRGC spokesman, three weeks on from the twin killings, may indicate a cooling of Iran’s earlier, more bellicose rhetoric.

Naeini said Iran’s response could differ from previous operations against Israel, saying that Tehran will not take “hasty action.”

“For now, the Zionists must live in instability and Iran’s response may not be a repeat of past operations,” he said. “The response scenarios are not the same. Our commanders have the experience and the art of effectively punishing the enemy and will not take hasty action.”

In April, Iran launched some 300 projectiles at Israel – its first-ever direct attack on the country – after blaming it for a strike on an Iranian diplomatic building in Damascus, Syria, which killed Mohammed Reza Zahedi, a top IRGC commander.

Naeini added that “the Zionist regime (Israel) has accepted the defeat, even American politicians have acknowledged this and have not yet achieved any of their goals,” referring to Israel’s war in Gaza, which has been fought for more than 10 months with the aim of defeating Hamas and returning the hostages it took from Israel on October 7.

Diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ramped up after the twin killings of Shukr and Haniyeh, as Arab and Western officials sought to avoid an all-out war.