Iran arrests senior officials in probe of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh's assassination

Iran has commenced a comprehensive investigation into the assassination of Hamsa leader Ismail Haniyeh at his Tehran guesthouse, the New York Times reported.

The investigation's intensity highlights the damaging and shocking nature of the security breach.

In response to this significant security lapse, Iran has arrested more than two dozen individuals, including senior intelligence officers, military officials, and staff at a military-run guesthouse in Tehran.

These arrests follow a major breach that enabled the assassination of the prominent Hamas leader, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

Read also: Ismail Haniyeh assassinated by ‘short-range projectile’ fired from outside home: Iran

The high-level arrests occurred after Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an explosion early Wednesday. Haniyeh, who had led Hamas’s political office in Qatar, was visiting Tehran for the inauguration of Iran’s new president and staying at the guesthouse in northern Tehran.

The fervent response to Haniyeh's killing underscores the devastating nature of the security failure for Iran's leadership. The assassination took place at a heavily guarded compound in Tehran, mere hours after the swearing-in ceremony of the new president.

“The perception that Iran can neither protect its homeland nor its key allies could be fatal for the Iranian regime because it basically signals to its foes that if they can’t topple the Islamic Republic, they can decapitate it,” said Ali Vaez, the Iran director for the International Crisis Group.

Officials from both the Middle East and Iran have indicated that the deadly blast resulted from a bomb planted in Haniyeh’s room up to two months before his arrival, according to the NYT.