Non-Western nations are condemning the assassination in Tehran of Hamas politburo head Ismail Haniyeh and holding Israel responsible, though it has not taken credit for the killing.
Russia, which hosted a Hamas delegation shortly after Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, and Turkey, whose president recently spoke of invading Israel, both denounced the killing.
Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said, ”This is an absolutely unacceptable political murder, and it will lead to further escalation of tensions.”
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said, “We condemn the assassination of the leader of Hamas’s political office, Ismail Haniyeh, in a shameful assassination in Tehran.”
Iran said the Haniyeh’s death wouldn’t be in vain and “will strengthen the deep and inseparable bonds between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Palestine and resistance,” according to the country’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency.
Iran’s newly installed president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said: “We will make the occupying terrorist regime [Israel] regret its action,” Iranian media reported.
“Iran will defend its sovereignty, dignity, reputation and honor,” he added.
Hamas said Haniyeh died “as a result of a treacherous Zionist raid” and promised that his death would not go unanswered.
“The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas mourns the sons of our great Palestinian people, the Arab and Islamic nation, and all the free people of the world,” the terror group said in a statement.
Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah organization signed a unity deal with Hamas on July 23 in China, called the assassination “a cowardly act and a dangerous development.”
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of Yemen’s Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee, said, “Targeting Ismail Haniyeh is a heinous terrorist crime and a flagrant violation of laws and ideal values.”
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said Haniyeh was “martyred” and expressed “condolences to the heroic nation of Palestine and the Islamic nation and the combatants of the Resistance Front and the noble nation of Iran.”
Jordan characterized the killing as a violation of international law and humanitarian law. Jordanian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sufyan Qudah said Israel’s crimes would drag the region into a wider conflict, threatening regional and international peace and security.
China also condemned the assassination, warning it could lead to “further instability in the regional situation.”
Although the United States didn’t immediately respond to the incident, it had already directed warships toward the Eastern Mediterranean after the Tuesday night assassination by Israel of Fuad Shukr, described as Hezbollah’s chief of staff, and promised to come to Israel’s aid should it be attacked.
Speaking to the press in the Philippines on Tuesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, “We’ve committed to helping Israel defend itself for whatever it takes,” speaking of the possibility of war in Israel’s north between Israel and Hezbollah.
Haniyeh, who was in Iran for the inauguration of Iran’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian, was killed at his Tehran guest house, according to Iranian media reports.