Iran held funeral processions with calls for revenge after the killing in Tehran of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in an attack blamed on Israel.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers for Haniyeh on Thursday, having earlier threatened a “harsh punishment” for his killing.
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In the capital’s city centre, thousands of mourners carrying posters of Haniyeh and Palestinian flags gathered for the ceremony at Tehran University.
Haniyeh and his bodyguard were killed on Wednesday in a strike on their accommodation in Tehran.
It came just hours after Israel targeted and killed top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in a retaliatory strike on the Lebanese capital, Beirut, raising fears of a wider regional war.
Israel has declined to comment on the Tehran strike.
The international community called for de-escalation and a focus on securing a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the strikes in Tehran and Beirut represented a “dangerous escalation”.
All efforts, he said, should be “leading to a ceasefire” in Gaza and the release of captives taken during the Hamas-led attack on October 7 in southern Israel which began nearly 10 months of war.
At least 39,480 people have been killed and 91,128 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Health. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel on October 7 and more than 200 were taken captive.
