Iran arrests dozen enforcers amid probe into Hamas leader assassination
Dozens of law enforcement officers, including high-ranking intelligence and military officials, have been detained in Iran amid an investigation into the assassination of the Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, local media sources reported on Saturday, citing sources in Iran familiar with the investigation.
Tehran: Dozens of law enforcement officers, including high-ranking intelligence and military officials, have been detained in Iran amid an investigation into the assassination of the Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, local media sources reported on Saturday, citing sources in Iran familiar with the investigation.
On Friday, the UK newspaper The Telegraph reported, citing undisclosed sources in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), that the explosive device that killed Haniyeh was planted by the agents of the IRGC hired by Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad.
The incident reportedly became a “humiliation for Iran and a huge security breach” for the IRGC.
A special team of agents formed by the Iranian authorities has interrogated and arrested over two dozen people, including senior intelligence officers, high-ranking military officials, and personnel at the IRGC-run guesthouse in Tehran.
A number of them have been taken into custody until the official investigation is over, the Iranians told the newspaper.
The Iranian investigators believe the Mossad-hired assassin team remains within the country and seek to arrest them, the newspaper said.
Haniyeh was killed after he took part in the inauguration of newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Hamas blamed Israel and the United States for Haniyeh’s death and vowed to retaliate.
Earlier in the week, the New York Times reported that Haniyeh was assassinated by a bomb smuggled two months prior into his room at the guesthouse in Tehran he was staying at.
