Iran has announced national mourning from July 31 to August 2 in connection with the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the Palestinian movement Hamas, in Tehran, the country’s government said.
“The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran conveys its condolences to the oppressed and resisting people of Palestine and to Haniyeh’s family members, and declares national mourning throughout Iran on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,” the statement said.
According to it, “this assassination has become another crime” of Israel.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also declared national mourning, as did the Houthi-controlled Ansar Allah movement in the Yemeni areas it controls.
Earlier, Hamas said that Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the Palestinian movement Hamas, has been killed in an Israeli strike on his residence in Tehran, where he had arrived for the inauguration of the country’s president-elect, Masoud Pezeshkian. The Al Hadath TV channel reported that Haniyeh was killed in a direct missile strike. Israeli authorities declined to comment to CNN on Haniyeh’s death. According to the Jerusalem Post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s office instructed ministers not to comment on the issue. The newspaper added that lawmakers had received similar instructions.