Tehran is under pressure to avenge the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, but analysts said it is balancing multiple factors as it weighs a response.

The crisis comes at an especially delicate moment in Iran, which analysts say is trying to formulate a response that doesn’t let an assassination on its soil go unpunished, while avoiding an all-out war against a powerful adversary. It also comes as a new government in Tehran has taken office, which could be slowing a decision on how to respond.

Iran and Hamas officials have promised to avenge the death of Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Hamas leader, who was killed in Tehran on July 31 after he attended the inauguration of Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian. Iran, which backs Hamas, blamed Israel for the assassination. Israeli leaders have not said their forces were responsible.

A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaan, said that “it is necessary to punish Israel,” echoing comments from other senior Iranian officials. But he also said that “Tehran is not interested in escalating the regional conflicts.”

  • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
    359·
    3 months ago

    A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaan, said that “it is necessary to punish Israel,” echoing comments from other senior Iranian officials. But he also said that “Tehran is not interested in escalating the regional conflicts.”

    Its like, actually fucking amazing how level headed the region has been at not being baited by Israel into a broader conflict.

    • goferking0@lemmy.sdf.org
      178·
      3 months ago

      No one in the region wants to possibly get nuked by Israeli forces.

      Or just want to keep showing Israel is actually the child of the region

      • ImWaitingForRetcons@lemm.ee
        134·
        3 months ago

        This makes so much sense to me - Iran joining in would give an invitation to USA, EU, etc. to join in with Israel, and take away focus from Israel’s war crimes and genocide to instead focus on the new bad guy.

    • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
      42·
      3 months ago

      It’s easy to be level headed when you look at a map and see your entire western border covered in US military bases.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
    3110·
    3 months ago

    It’s almost as though our “enemy” is more interested in peace in the Middle East than our “ally.”

    • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldOPM
      124·
      3 months ago

      Let’s not get carried away. Iran is still arming radical extremists including Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and Asad. They are a pretty big part of this mess already. But any imperial power knows that it’s one thing to arm militant groups but another entirely to commit your own army.

      • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
        68·
        3 months ago

        Israel attacked a sovereign nation. The other nation said it will retaliate but doesn’t necessarily want to escalate. I don’t see how I’m getting carried away.

            • samokosik@lemmy.world
              22·
              3 months ago

              Iran funds those terrorists.

              So you are essentially saying that if Israel created a terrorist organization, started attacking Iran via it and then Iran responds to Israel, it would be Iran who is the aggressive one and starting the conflict, right?

    • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
      53·
      3 months ago

      They aren’t interested in peace, but they are interested in not starting a war they can’t win.

  • MissJinx@lemmy.world
    133·
    3 months ago

    Organized Religion is the root of all evil. As a woman I want a world without religion. please and thank you

    • aleph@lemm.eeEnglish
      6·
      3 months ago

      Humans are perfectly capable of dividing themselves into factions and fostering hatred of the other without religion, don’t you worry.

      • MissJinx@lemmy.world
        71·
        3 months ago

        tbf they can worship anything they want. My problem is not so much with having faith but with the mass control, kid rape, women killing part of things, that comes from organized religion. When someone gives a dude the power to talk like god it’s never good. Why do people need to have other people teling them how to think all the time?!!! Idiocracy

        • WhyFlip@lemmy.world
          18·
          3 months ago

          Organized religion for the most part is a good thing as it tends to control the masses, setting boundaries as to what is right and wrong. Now we have digital pacifiers, the latest means of mass control.