Iran has detained over two dozen individuals, including senior intelligence officers, military officials, and staff members at a military-run guesthouse in Tehran, in response to a significant security breach that led to the assassination of a top Hamas leader.
According to the New York Times, the arrests followed the early Wednesday killing of Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader who was visiting Tehran for the inauguration of Iran’s new president and was staying at the guesthouse in northern Tehran.
Haniyeh and a bodyguard were killed in a pre-dawn attack on their accommodation in Tehran, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said. Haniyeh was in Iran to attend the swearing-in of President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday.
The New York Times, citing Middle Eastern officials, reported that Haniyeh was killed by an explosive device planted weeks ago at the guesthouse.
On Thursday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers for Haniyeh in Tehran and earlier threatened "harsh punishment" for his killing.
Asked about the report, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari told journalists, "There was no other Israeli aerial attack... in all the Middle East" on the night of Haniyeh's killing. Israel said Haniyeh's assassination — for which Hezbollah said retaliation was "inevitable" — was a response to rocket fire that killed 12 children last week in the annexed Golan Heights.
Iranian news agency Fars described the US report of a pre-planted bomb as a "lie," insisting that the Hamas leader was killed by a "projectile."
Israel, accused by Hamas, Iran and others of the attack, has not directly commented on it.
The killing of Qatar-based Haniyeh is among a series of tit-for-tat attacks since April that have sent regional tensions soaring.
Iranian officials met with represenatives of allied armed groups in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen on Wednesday to discuss the next steps, either "a simultaneous response from Iran and its allies or a staggered response from each party", a source close to Lebanon's Hezbollah movement told AFP.
Military chief Herzi Halevi told troops Israel would respond "very strongly" to any attack, an army statement said.
US to deploy more warships, jets
Meanwhile, the United States plans to bolster defences in the region and "provide elevated support to the defence of Israel", Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said without specifying.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant met with his visiting British counterpart John Healey on Friday and called for an international coalition to support "Israel's defence against Iran and its proxies", Gallant's office said.
Healey said "we urged all sides to show restraint and dial down the tension at this critical moment".
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who visited the region this week, said there was an "urgent need for de-escalation".
"The risk that the situation on the ground could deteriorate rapidly is rising," Lammy said in a statement, calling for "an immediate ceasefire" in Gaza with hostages released and aid "getting in in sufficient quantity".
US President Joe Biden, after a Thursday telephone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told reporters: "We have the basis for a ceasefire... They should move on it now."
Gaza in ruins
Haniyeh's assassination came hours after Israel struck a southern suburb of Beirut, killing Fuad Shukr, the military commander of Lebanese Hamas ally Hezbollah.
During the Gaza war, triggered by Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel, Hezbollah and Israeli forces have engaged in near-daily exchanges of fire, and did so again on Friday.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation for the October 7 attack which resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory campaign against Hamas has killed at least 39,480 people in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.
The fighting has sparked a dire humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory. On Friday, the UN Satellite Centre said nearly two-thirds of the buildings in Gaza, or 151,265 structures, have been damaged or destroyed during the war.
With inputs from AFP
