Iran’s Leader Orders Attack on Israel for Haniyeh Killing

Khamenei gave the order at an emergency meeting of Iran's Supreme National Security Council on Wednesday morning, shortly after Iran announced that Haniyeh had been killed.

Iran and Hamas have accused Israel of the assassination. Israel, which is at war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, has neither acknowledged nor denied killing Haniyeh, who was in Tehran for the inauguration of Iran's new president.

Notably, Israel has a long history of killing enemies abroad, including Iranian nuclear scientists and military commanders, according to the NYT.

Through almost 10 months of war in Gaza, Iran has tried to strike a balance, putting pressure on Israel with sharply increased attacks by its allies and proxy forces in the region, while avoiding an all-out war between the two nations.

In its biggest and most overt attack on Israel, Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones in April in retaliation for an Israeli strike on its embassy compound that killed several Iranian military commanders in the Syrian capital of Damascus.

"Now it is unclear how forcefully Iran will respond, and whether it will once again calibrate its attack to steer clear of escalation. Iranian military commanders are considering another combination attack of drones and missiles on military targets in the vicinity of Tel Aviv and Haifa, but would make a point of avoiding strikes on civilian targets," the Iranian officials said.