Thousands mourn Hamas leader Haniyeh in Iran amid calls for revenge
Al Jazeera
Haniyeh, spoken of as Tehran’s ‘guest’, was assassinated in the Iranian capital as Israel’s war on Gaza rages.
Tehran, Iran – Thousands poured into the streets of Tehran to join the funeral procession of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as Iran weighs its options having promised to avenge his assassination.
The bodies of the Palestinian political official and his bodyguard, who was killed alongside him a day earlier in Iran in a strike blamed on Israel, were marched amid chants in the capital.
Flags of Palestine, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Hamas swayed in the wind as organisers handed out posters of Haniyeh. Banners honoured the Palestinian leader and the late Iranian general Qassem Soleimani who was assassinated by the United States in 2020, among others.
“Avenging the blood of the guest is with the host, the world is waiting,” read the headline of the ultraconservative Keyhan newspaper, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by the supreme leader.
