The Iranian Foreign Ministry has issued its first response to the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, saying that it will not weaken the fight against Israel and that others will rise to take the place of the slain militant leader.
"Today we have settled the score. Today evil has been dealt a blow but our task has still not been completed," Netanyahu said in a video statement.
"To the dear hostage families, I say: this is an important moment in the war. We will continue full force until all your loved ones, our loved ones, are home," he added.
The Israeli military released drone footage it said showed the last moments of militant boss, caked in dust in a bombed-out house apparently severely wounded and attempting to throw a projectile at the camera.
Unverified graphic footage circulating on social media appeared to show a corpse roughly resembling Sinwar in a military tactical vest and headscarf with distinctive crooked teeth.
Israeli authorities said DNA and dental records analysis gleaned from the site and matched to records from Sinwar's over 20 years in Israeli prisons proved his identity.
Hamas has yet to confirm his death.
President Joe Biden said US intelligence had aided Israel to locate senior Hamas leaders, calling it a "good day".
Israel has had every right to eliminate the leadership and military structure of Hamas. Hamas is no longer capable of carrying out another October 7," Biden said in a statement.
"There is now the opportunity for a 'day after' in Gaza without Hamas in power, and for a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike," he added.
Sinwar was the architect of the October 7, 2023 attacks which killed around 1,100 Israelis - most of them civilians - and ensnared scores of hostages in a shock to Israeli security which has brought the region close to all-out war.
Iran's other armed allies in the region including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen joined the fight against Israel and the Islamic Republic itself has twice launched missile fusillades against the Jewish State.
The latest, on Oct.1, killed no Israelis and was repelled with US and Western aid. Israel has promised unspecified retaliation.
Sinwar succeeded Ismail Haniyeh - who was killed in a likely Israeli bombing of his guesthouse in Tehran in August - as the head of the group's political bureau, making him its highest ranking leader and de facto chief.
Iran's Supreme Leader this month blessed that attack as a justified act of resistance and emphasized the Islamic Republic's support for armed allies in the region like Hamas which have been confronting Israel for over a year.
US officials cited by domestic media outlets have pointed to hardline positions adopted by Sinwar as well as by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as obstacles to a negotiated ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza.
More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel's offensive so far according to Gaza's health authorities, including 28 people in an Israeli strike on a shelter in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday.
Iran connection
Sinwar played a pivotal role in building Hamas’s strategic alliance with Iran, according to Israeli and Western military analysts and officials.
The bloody crackdown by Iran's ally Syria starting in 2011 on militias and dissidents linked to the Muslim Brotherhood - the ideological movement from which Hamas hails - dented relation with Tehran which Sinwar helped repair.
Sinwar traveled to Iran on notable visit in 2012 in which he was photographed as part of a Hamas delegation in an audience with Khamenei and after which Hamas-Iran ties improved.
In footage released following Haniyeh's assassination, Khamenei's office depicted the slain leader introducing Sinwar as a veteran of Israel's prisons.
Iran’s assistance, frequently cited by Sinwar, was instrumental in building Hamas’s military strength.
In a speech the same year, Sinwar confirmed that Qassem Soleimani, the late senior Iranian paramilitary general, had reached out to Hamas's leadership and offered all means at Iran's disposal to aid their cause.
The October 7 attack was a culmination of Hamas’ evolution under Sinwar’s guidance from an organization viewed by Israel as preoccupied with administering Gaza to a fearsome attacker dedicated to altering the security balance in the region.
Those enhanced capabilities enabled by its alliance with Iran were on display as Hamas fighters launched a complex attack by land, air and sea while overrunning military installations with the aid of drones.
In a televised speech on Thursday, Hossein Salami warned: “We tell you [Israel] that if you commit any aggression against any point, we will painfully attack the same point of yours."
He dismissed the deployment of the US-provided THAAD missile defense system this week, sent in preparation for any possible Iranian retaliation in the tit-for-tat aggression.
The US also deployed 100 troops in preparation for the escalation, President Joe Biden standing by the country's regional ally.
“Do not trust the THAAD,” Salami added, adding, “You cannot commit genocide and remain safe", referring to Israel's ongoing war against Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza.
Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas following the October 7 attack, in which over 1,000 Israeli civilians were killed. In the aftermath, Hamas claims that around 42,000 Palestinians have been killed, while Israel asserts that at least 16,000 of those casualties were Hamas operatives.
Tensions between Israel and Iran have been running high since October 1, when Iran launched 181 ballistic missiles towards Israel in response to Israel's killing of the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.
While Israel’s air defenses intercepted most of the missiles, several struck targets including military and civilian sites, causing minor damage.
Rasoul Sanaei Rad, the political deputy of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's office, downplayed the US efforts to support Israel. On Thursday, he referred to the THAAD deployment as “a show and propaganda to boost the morale of the Israelis, who are in a state of panic.”
The Israeli government has vowed to respond to Iran’s missile strike, continuing its military operations in neighboring Lebanon and Gaza, where it has been targeting the leadership of Iran's proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas.
Syrian state media reported on Thursday that Israeli jets targeted the port city of Latakia in the early morning, while US forces carried out multiple strikes against military infrastructure belonging to Iran's Yemeni proxy, the Houthis.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi’s visit to Egypt on Wednesday, part of a Middle Eastern tour, marking the first high-level Iranian diplomatic visit to Cairo in almost 12 years. The most recent visit to Egypt took place in January 2013, when then-Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi visited Cairo during an African tour.
He met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo on Thursday. Sisi reiterated Egypt’s call to prevent the conflict from expanding, stressing the need to avoid escalation, as reported by the Egyptian presidency.
Araqchi’s visit follows stops in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, and Lebanon. He also met with his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty, on Thursday.
While relations between Egypt and Iran have been strained for decades, the two nations have increased high-level diplomatic engagement since last year’s Gaza crisis. Egypt, which sits on Gaza's border, is one of the mediators between Hamas and Israel, along with the US and Qatar.
"Undoubtedly, the physical elimination of fighters on the path of dignity and human honor will not undermine the school and path of resistance," the Foreign Ministry's statement read.
Its statement, published midday Friday, largely echoed that of the state's Strategic Council on Foreign Relations (SCFR) -- the body, composed of senior diplomats, playing a key role in shaping the state's approach on regional and international issues.
The SCFR, reporting directly to the Supreme Leader, asserted that the killing of the Hamas leader would neither weaken the "Axis of Resistance" nor deter the "Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation."
"Just as these leaders rose from among the oppressed people of Palestine and Lebanon, others will rise to take their place," the statement by the SCFR read.
Prior to those acknowledgments, state-controlled media outlets like Tasnim, affiliated with the IRGC, had delayed over 18 hours before cautiously acknowledging Sinwar's killing.
Other domestic Iranian media echoed initial reports with minimal updates, providing narratives to protect Sinwar's image as a "hero" within the establishment.
Israel said on Thursday that it had killed Sinwar, the mastermind behind the October 7 attacks that triggered the war, marking one of the most significant strikes against Hamas' leadership in the ongoing Gaza conflict.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also responded to the assassination, saying, "The enemy should be aware that the martyrdom of commanders, heroes, and leaders will not create any disruption in the resistance of the Islamic Ummah (nation) against oppression and occupation."
Sinwar, a key figure in Hamas since its early days, had been the primary architect of the deadly assault, which claimed the lives of over 1,100 Israelis, mostly civilians – the largest killing of Jews since the Holocaust.
The SCFR emphasized its message, saying that the "Axis of Resistance"—an Iran-led alliance of groups opposing Israel and Western influence, including Hamas and Hezbollah—would not be weakened or deterred by the assassination of its leaders
In line with this approach, former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) chief commander Mohsen Rezaei responded to the killing early Friday.
He took to X to attack the Israeli operation, stating, “Warriors of the resistance front, like the martyr Yahya Sinwar, are fighting the invading soldiers on the battlefield. We are prepared for battle, and victory is ours."
Journalist and political analyst Ahmad Zeidabadi in Tehran took to his Telegram channel to say that it was not the right time for a comprehensive evaluation of Sinwar’s legacy.
In the cautiously drafted post, Zeidabadi hinted that the ultimate assessment of Sinwar’s legacy should be left to the Palestinian people in the future.
In its first public response to the killing of its leader, a senior Hamas official told NBC News on Friday that the militant group would emerge even stronger.
Sinwar's assassination follows a recent string of high-profile assassinations targeting leaders within the "Axis of Resistance" in the past few months.
Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, part of the “Axis”, said on Friday it was moving to a new and escalating phase in its war against Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video message Thursday, that Sinwar’s death marked “the beginning of the day after Hamas,” but “the task before us is not yet complete.”
