'No hostage will be released' - Tehran unveils mural of Israeli hostages

Authorities in Iran's capital Tehran unveiled a blood-splattered mural depicting Israeli hostages in Gaza with the message, “No hostage will be released,” written in Farsi and Hebrew.

On Tuesday, the Tehran Times reported on the mural, located in Tehran’s Palestine Square, where the Iranian regime regularly organizes anti-Israel rallies. Featured on the mural is Noa Argamani, one of the hostages who was rescued in a daring Israeli military rescue operation in central Gaza in June alongside three other Israeli hostages.

On Oct. 7, 2023, the Hamas terrorist organization, an Iranian proxy in Gaza, invaded and massacred 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 251 Israelis and foreign nationals from southern Israeli border communities. According to the IDF, 97 hostages are remaining, however, it is unclear how many of them are still alive.

The Iranian regime and its regional proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, have openly called for Israel’s destruction and have fired tens of thousands of rockets, missiles and exploding drones since last year's Oct. 7 mass terror attack.

Iran launched two direct mass aerial attacks at Israel in the past six months, including one earlier this month on Oct. 1. Israeli and American aerial defense systems neutralized the majority of the hostile aerial projectiles. Since then, Israel has vowed to respond.

While Iran's direct involvement in attacks against Israel continues, Israel's focus on dismantling Hamas leadership has intensified, with the recent elimination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar providing a potential turning point in the ongoing hostage crisis.

Sinwar, who was killed by Israeli forces in Rafah last week, has sparked new hope among the families of hostages that a deal could now be possible, as Israeli and American officials believe Sinwar was uninterested in negotiating a hostage-release deal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended an offer to spare the lives of the remaining Hamas members if they release the hostages and surrender.

The IDF reported that, at the time of his death, Sinwar was found with documents related to the ongoing hostage negotiations. Some believe he viewed the hostages as his primary leverage and had been using six Israeli hostages as human shields before they were executed by Hamas terrorists in late August. It is currently unclear how the death of Sinwar will impact the hostage negotiations and who in Hamas is calling the shots.

Khalil al-Hayya, deputy leader of Hamas’ political bureau in Qatar, recently vowed that no hostages would be released unless Israel agrees to end the war in Gaza that Hamas unleashed over a year ago.

Former American-Israeli hostage negotiator Gershon Baskin, who facilitated the release of the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011, recently told the Telegraph that Sinwar’s demise could potentially signal “a moment of either opportunity or moment of doom because there are rumors that Sinwar instructed people holding hostages that, should he be killed, they should kill their hostages.” Those rumors have not been confirmed.