Assassinated

Assassinated Hamas political leader visited Iran several times since October 7

From CNN’s Mostafa Salem in Abu Dhabi

Ismail Haniyeh’s fateful trip to Iran this week was not his first to the country since his group launched its deadly assault in Israel on October 7 of last year. 

The political leader of Hamas, which is supported by the Iranian regime, had made several other visits to Tehran since the war with Israel began in Gaza, including one in May where he delivered a eulogy at the funeral of former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash earlier that month.

In the hours before he was assassinated overnight, Haniyeh attended an inauguration ceremony on Tuesday for Raisi’s replacement, the newly sworn-in President Masoud Pezehkian, and met Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. 

He gave his last known doorstep interview to a reporter in Iran while visiting the “Land of Civilizations,” a newly inaugurated exhibition held in the iconic Milad Tower of Tehran. 

“Today there are attempts to create civilizations, but they are built on killing, spilling of blood and robbing the wealth of populations and occupying other people’s lands. These are fake civilizations that will not survive,” Haniyeh told the reporter after attending the exhibition. 

Other previous trips by Haniyeh to Iran include one on March 26, when he met then- Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian — who was also killed in the May helicopter crash — as negotiations on a ceasefire in Gaza were ongoing, and another visit that was revealed in November 2023 and reportedly included a meeting with Khamenei, roughly a month after Hamas’ October 7 attack.