Like a spy thriller: Amazing details about assassination of Hamas leader Haniyeh in Tehran begin to emerge

Haniyeh was largest obstacle to hostage deal on Hamas side

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Israelis woke up on Wednesday morning to the shocking report that not one, but two of their greatest enemies had suddenly died overnight.

Some hours after Israel struck Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s military chief – which would remain unconfirmed until late at night – reports of the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital of Tehran began to emerge.

The initial reports were based on statements from Iranian media citing regime officials and declarations from the Hamas terrorist organization. The reports suggested that the arch-terrorist had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, with media suggesting that a missile attack had been launched from outside the country.

Although the circumstances of Haniyeh’s assassination in a guest house belonging to the Iranian regime, in the heart of its capital, were already deeply humiliating, Thursday evening brought even more embarrassing reports from Western media.

Reports of a drone or missile attack now seem to have been disseminated by Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), who were responsible for the security at the guest house, in an attempt to shift blame onto another security force within the country.

Instead, The New York Times reported – and other outlets like The Jerusalem Post confirmed – that Haniyeh was killed by a bomb that had been hidden, several weeks earlier, inside the room where the senior Hamas leader was staying, and that the bomb was activated remotely by Israeli Mossad agents who were on Iranian soil at the time.

Later on Thursday evening, IDF spokesman Brig.-Gen. Daniel Hagari indirectly confirmed this report when he stated that “no additional air strike” was launched by Israeli forces on the night Shukr was killed by the IDF.

There was “not a missile nor an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle in the entire Middle East that night,” Hagari reiterated, before adding an unusual comment on which he didn’t elaborate.

“In recent years, Iran has been managing a terrorist infrastructure for the transfer of Iranian explosive devices to Israeli territory, for the purposes of terrorist attacks,” the IDF spokesman noted, possibly hinting that Israel had killed Haniyeh in the same manner.

“We will continue to act against Iranian terrorism with determination,” he added.

According to sources of the Jerusalem Post , the bomb had been smuggled into Iran and hidden in the guest house as far back as June. The house is located in an IRGC compound in a high-end suburb of northern Tehran.

During his frequent visits to Tehran over the past decade, the Hamas leader often stayed at this exact guest house, providing a clear target location for his assassination.

The explosive device and its activation utilized similar cutting-edge remote technology to that used in the assassination of Iranian nuclear chief Mohsen Fakhrizadeh several years ago, according to the Post.

The device was calibrated with such precision that the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror group, Ziyad al-Nakhalah, survived the blast despite be located in an apartment next door.

The Jerusalem Post report added one more highly interesting piece of information to the puzzle.

Contrary to the widely accepted and reported opinion that the main obstacle to progress in the hostage release negotiations was Hamas’ Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, the Post reported that in recent weeks, it was often Haniyeh who, through his opposition to certain aspects of the deal, prevented an agreement.

This makes the elimination of Haniyeh, no matter how it was ultimately carried out, even more significant and potentially beneficial for Israel.