Iran says that it will attack Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. The New York Times reports that “Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has issued an order for Iran to strike Israel directly.” The Ayatollah said that it is Iran’s “duty” to take revenge on X.
Israel has not taken responsibility for the killings but the U.S. says that it will back Israel if any parties retaliate for it. Israel was reportedly targeting Haniyeh as a Hamas leader but he had not lived in Gaza for years. He lived mostly in Qatar. He was killed in Tehran while traveling to the inauguration of the new president after the former president died in a suspicious plane crash. The New York Times reports that the building where he was killed had a previously-planted bomb that had been there for two months. The former president died two months ago. Is this a coincidence?
Leaders in the region are saying that strikes like this derail peace negotiations. They certainly do not contribute to peace, do they?
