US troops may be in crosshairs as Iran blames US for Haniyeh killing

Jared Szuba

Jul 31, 2024

Saied Iravani, Iranian ambassador to the UN, attends a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, at UN Headquarters on July 31, 2024, in New York City. — Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration swiftly denied any involvement or foreknowledge of the suspected Israeli assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Iran’s capital on Wednesday.

Both Tehran and Hamas blamed Israel for Haniyeh's death, with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) vowing a "hard and painful response" that it said will be delivered in coordination with its proxy militias across the region.

“The response to an assassination will indeed be special operations — harder and intended to instill deep regret in the perpetrator,” Iran's diplomatic mission to the United Nations said in a statement.

Iran's mission to the UN also accused the United States complicity in a letter to the Security Council on Wednesday. "This act could not have occurred without the authorization and intelligence support of the US," the note read.