Iranian officials have issued stark warnings to Israel in the aftermath of the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, simultaneously emphasizing their desire to avoid regional escalation.
"While Iran has no interest in exacerbating regional tensions, we believe it is necessary to hold Israel accountable to prevent further instability," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said.
Taking a somewhat different tone, Hossein Salami, head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, said, "Our response will come at a time and place of our choosing. When Israel feels the impact of our strike, it will understand the gravity of its miscalculation."
"Israel can expect a resolute response for the elimination of Haniyeh. It gravely miscalculated when it targeted our nuclear scientists, believing it could derail our nuclear program. The United States and Israel are the true sources of all prohibited weapons, yet they now claim Iran has no right to develop nuclear capabilities...the Zionist regime has been born in a cradle of terrorism, and is not in possession of any of the elements that constitute a nation," Salami said during an event held in the capital Tehran on the occasion of National Journalists' Day on Monday. He added, "These [atrocities] are, however, holes that they (the Israelis) dug for themselves, and will gradually bury themselves in...once they received a crushing response, they would understand that they have committed another miscalculation."
