Iran's Parliament Speaker says response to Hamas chief's assassination will be 'crushing, smart'

Tehran, Aug 5 (IANS) Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on Sunday that the country's response to the assassination of Hamas Politburo Chief Ismail Haniyeh will be "crushing and smart."

The response would make Israel and its supporters regret their action, forcing them to revise their system of calculations to refrain from making another "mistake" detrimental to their own security and regional peace, said Qalibaf, who made the remarks at an open session of the Iranian Parliament, reports Xinhua news agency, quoting IRIB.

Meanwhile, Hossein Taeb, a senior advisor to the chief commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), was quoted by IRIB as saying that the scenario designed to avenge Haniyeh's assassination would be "new and surprising" and "unpredictable."

Also on Sunday, Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said Iran's intelligence authorities had assured that the assassination of Haniyeh was not the result of "infiltration."

Necessary measures regarding the "terrorist action" and completing the required data were being implemented, Rezaei was quoted as saying by the Iranian official news agency.

Haniyeh, who had been invited to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday, was killed along with his bodyguard early Wednesday when their residence in Tehran was hit, according to the IRGC, which said Israel had carried out the attack and vowed "a harsh and painful response."

Meanwhile, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Israel had prepared the ground for a "harsh punishment" for itself.