Iran’s foreign minister vows ‘calculated’ response to killing of Hamas leader Haniyeh

Iran’s foreign minister again referenced on Sunday his country’s planned retaliation against Israel over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, saying it would be “measured.”

Abbas Araghchi said late Sunday that he made the remark in a telephone conversation with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.

“Iran[‘s] reaction to Israeli terrorist attack in Tehran is definitive, and will be measured & well calculated,” Araghchi wrote on the social platform X. “We do not fear escalation, yet do not seek it — unlike Israel.”

A statement released by Iran’s foreign ministry on Monday added that Araghchi told his Italian counterpart that Tehran saw the killing of Haniyeh as “an unforgivable violation of Iran’s security and sovereignty.”

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the assassination of Haniyeh, who was killed in a guesthouse in Tehran hours after attending a swearing-in ceremony for the new Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian. Nevertheless, Iran and Hamas have both blamed Jerusalem, and vowed to retaliate.

Tehran carried out an unprecedented missile and drone attack on Israel in April, after several members of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in in Iranian consular building in Damascus in a strike blamed on Israel.

Vehicles drive past a huge billboard depicting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (R) and slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at Tehran’s Valiasr Square on August 12, 2024. (Atta Kenare/AFP)

In a statement on Monday, Tajani said that during the conversation, he had “called for restraint and to pursue a constructive approach, in order to stop the cycle of military actions in the region, which only risks bringing more suffering.”

“It is important that Iran exercises moderation towards Hezbollah in order to avert an escalation on the Lebanese-Israeli border, where Italian soldiers of the UNIFIL contingent are operating, and towards the Houthis in order to avoid an increase in tensions in the Red Sea area, where Italy plays a leading role in the (European Union’s) Aspides mission,” he said in the statement.

The two spoke after Israel and the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, long backed by Iran, traded heavy fire early Sunday as Hezbollah launched a retaliatory attack for the July 30 killing of its military commander Fuad Shukr, but apparently backed off from sparking a widely feared all-out war.

Israel conducted a preemptive assault overnight between Saturday and Sunday, in which it said 100 planes destroyed thousands of rocket launcher barrels inside Lebanese territory shortly before they were to be used, and then intercepted most of the 230 rockets and 20 drones Hezbollah did fire.

Reuters contributed to this report.