Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered Iran to strike Israel directly in retaliation for the assassination in Tehran of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, according to three Iranian officials briefed on the order.
Mr. Khamenei gave the order at an emergency meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Wednesday morning, shortly after Iran announced that Haniya had been killed, the three Iranian officials, including two members of the Revolutionary Guards, said. They asked that their names not be published because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Iran and Hamas blamed Israel for the assassination. Israel has a long history of killing enemies abroad, including Iranian nuclear scientists and military commanders.
In April, Iran launched its biggest and most open attack against Israel in decades of hostility, firing hundreds of missiles and drones in retaliation for an Israeli strike on its embassy compound that killed several Iranian military commanders in Damascus, Syria. But even this “show of force” was known to the US and Israel’s allies in advance, almost all of the weapons were shot down by Israel and its allies, and little damage was done.
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