The explosives for the assassination of the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, were laid by Iranian agents from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC, elite units The Iranian Armed Forces) on behalf of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, the Telegraph newspaper reports, citing unnamed IRGC officers.
Earlier, American media reported that Haniyeh was killed by an explosive device secretly hidden about two months ago in the Tehran guest house where he was staying. At the same time, the house is under the control and protection of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
"Israel's Mossad intelligence service hired Iranian security agents to plant explosive devices in three separate rooms of the house where the Hamas leader was staying," the Telegraph said.
According to the newspaper, the Iranian Armed Forces are confident that Mossad has hired agents from the Ansar al-Mahdi Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unit responsible for ensuring the security of high-ranking officials. During the investigation, two more explosive devices were found in two other rooms of the house where Haniyeh was staying.
It is reported that the murder of Haniyeh was planned back in May, when he was at the funeral of former Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi. The plan could not be implemented due to the large number of people attending the funeral and the high probability of failure.
Sources told the Telegraph that for the Iranian special services, the assassination of the head of the Hamas politburo "was a humiliation and a huge security breach," and now proceedings are taking place inside the IRGC, Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei is calling for dismissals, arrests and executions of employees responsible for the failure.
According to an IRGC official quoted by the newspaper, for Khamenei "it is more important now to deal with the failure of the security services" than to take revenge on Israel.
On Wednesday, the Palestinian Hamas movement announced the death of Ismail Haniyeh as a result of an Israeli strike on his residence in Tehran, where he arrived to attend the inauguration of the new president of Iran.
The movement blamed Israel and the United States for Haniyeh's death and said the attack would not go unanswered. The head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, said that he had nothing to say about the death of the head of the Hamas politburo and Israel's involvement in it. Representatives of the Israeli army, in turn, said that they "do not respond to media reports" about the murder of Haniyeh. The Jerusalem Post wrote that the Israeli authorities instructed the ministers not to speak out about the assassination of the Hamas leader.
On Wednesday evening, the New York Times, citing sources, claimed that Khamenei ordered a direct strike on Israel in response to the assassination of Haniyeh in Tehran. Later, Iran's permanent representative to the UN, Amir Said Irvani, at a meeting of the organization's Security Council, said that Tehran, following international law, reserves the right to self-defense in order to respond to the murder of Haniyeh when it deems it necessary. He also stated that this murder would not have happened without the support of Israel from US intelligence. Iran's mission to the UN also called on the Security Council to impose sanctions against Israel for acts of aggression.