TEHRAN( WNAM MONITORING): Iran’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have exchanged views on the circumstances around the assassination of Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
In a phone conversation on Thursday, the Iranian and Russian diplomats condemned the assassination of the Palestinian resistance leader.
Both sides underlined that politically-motivated assassinations were unacceptable while warning of dire consequences of such actions.
The organizers of such a provocative move seek to cause the ongoing process of talks between warring sides in the Gaza Strip to collapse, the two officials said.
For his part, Lavrov called on all influential parties in Gaza and in the Middle East to avoid actions that could lead to further regional instability and new casualties among civilians.
Earlier, the Foreign Ministry of Russia issued a statement, strongly slamming Haniyeh’s assassination.
The Russian embassy in Tehran also reacted to the assassination of the chief of the political bureau of the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas, stating that this is an unacceptable political murder that will lead to further escalation of tensions,” explaining that this crime “will have a negative impact on ceasefire talks in Gaza.”
Ismail Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were martyred after their residence was targeted in Tehran, according to a statement released by the IRGC.
Ismail Haniyeh, the political bureau chief of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, and one of his bodyguards were assassinated in their residence in the Iranian capital early on Wednesday.
They were killed after their residence was hit, the public relations office of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said in a statement.
The reasons behind the attack are under investigation and the details will be released later, the statement read.
Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday (July 30).
