Revealed: How top Hamas leader Haniyeh was killed & why it's a 'tremendous embarrassment' for Iran

Ismail Haniyeh

Top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated by an explosive device which was secretly smuggled into the Tehran guesthouse where he was staying, the New York Times has reported quoting multiple officials.

Interestingly, the bomb was kept in the guesthouse nearly two months ago and detonated remotely once he was inside his room there. The guesthouse is operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

The Iranian government and Hamas have accused Israel of carrying out the assassination. However, Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.

According to the report, the explosion shook the building, broke some windows and caused the partial collapse of an exterior wall.

The fact that a bomb was smuggled into a guesthouse that was under the protection of IRGC suggests a major security breach deep inside Iran.

The assassination has thrown the already volatile Middle Eastern region into a state of uncertainty, with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei ordering the President to attack Israel directly.

Middle Eastern officials told NYT that Haniyeh had stayed at the same guesthouse several times in the past during his visits to Tehran.

This indicates that those responsible for the incident knew about Haniyeh's whereabouts in Iran and had carefully planned his assassination months in advance.

In the aftermath of the assassination, there was speculation that Israel possibly used a missile strike, from a drone or plane, to kill Haniyeh — similar to its April attack on a military base in Isfahan.

The theory raised questions about how Israel could bypass Iranian air defences again. However, it was later revealed that the attack exploited a security lapse in a supposedly secure compound, where a bomb was planted and remained hidden for weeks before detonation.

Iranian officials told NYT that such a massive security breach was a "catastrophic failure of intelligence and security" for Iran and a "tremendous embarrassment" for the Guards.

Particularly because IRGC uses these compound for secret meetings and hosting prominent guests.

It is still unclear how the bomb was exactly placed in the guesthouse but officials agree that it must have required extensive surveillance of the compound.

Haniyeh’s death strikes a significant blow to Hamas at a time when tensions are flaring across the Middle East over the devastating war in Gaza, and raises fraught questions about the future of negotiations between Israel and Hamas.