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Iran says Israel’s assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the Hamas resistance movement, was a "blatant violation" of international rules and regulations, reiterating Tehran’s inherent right to punish the aggressor.
Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran on July 31, while he was in Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Addressing reporters at his weekly press conference in Tehran on Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani said the assassination was a flagrant breach of the Islamic Republic’s territorial integrity and the political norms of the international community.
“In line with international law, Iran has the right to punish the aggressor. No one has the right to doubt Iran’s legal right to punish the aggressor and create deterrence against the usurping Zionist regime,” he added.
Iran reserves its “decisive and indisputable” right to defend its national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity, he emphasized.
The Iranian spokesperson said the Israeli regime is the root cause of tensions in the region and has so far rejected all efforts at the regional and extra-regional levels to establish stability.
He said the international community must support Iran's punishment of the Israeli regime for regional stability and peace.
Kan’ani reaffirmed Iran’s resolve to promote regional stability, saying calm will be restored to the region through “punishment of the aggressor and creation of deterrence in the face of the adventurism” of the Israeli regime.
He noted that Israel’s vicious and cowardly act of assassination will not disrupt the noble Palestinian people’s determination to continue the path of struggle against the regime for the liberation of Palestine.
‘OIC to hold extraordinary meeting in Jeddah’
Elsewhere during his presser, Kan’ani pointed out that Iran has called for an extraordinary meeting of the foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) over Israel’s assassination of Haniyeh and the regime’s crimes, saying the request was welcomed by Muslim countries.
He announced that the OIC will hold an extraordinary meeting at the foreign ministerial level in the Saudi city of Jeddah on Wednesday.
Iran has so far taken all the necessary legal and political measures as well as diplomatic moves aimed at global condemnation of Haniyeh’s assassination, the spokesman added.
‘No need for US message on Iran’s retaliation’
Kan’ani said there is no need for the United States’ message regarding Iran’s possible response to the Israeli regime’s assassination of the Hamas chief in Tehran.
“The US government is a full-fledged partner of the Zionist regime. Iran is not responsible for the escalation of tension in the region,” the spokesman stated.
He emphasized that the Israeli regime is responsible for mounting tensions in the region with the “direct and unlimited” support of the United States.
Kan’ani said the US must fulfill its duties and use its capabilities to deter the Israeli regime from conducting acts of adventurism.
