Extract: The assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh should have been all but impossible
He was an honoured guest of the Iranian government, protected by its elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and staying in a secure safe house in the heart of Tehran.
Yet at least three international news publications are reporting the explosion that killed Ismail Haniyeh came not from an air strike but from a bomb planted in Haniyeh's apartment potentially weeks before his arrival and detonated remotely.
The explosion killed Haniyeh and his bodyguard on 31 July 2024 around 2AM local time
The New York Times, Axios and the Wall Street Journal have all reported that the Tehran assassination involved a bomb planted weeks — or even months — ahead of Haniyeh's arrival in the Iranian capital for the inauguration of the country's new president.
The reports say the bomb was planted and detonated based on intimate knowledge of the secure compound — knowing not only which room Haniyeh was staying in but when he was in it.
If so, it's a stunning and humiliating failure for the Iranian security authorities and the Revolutionary Guards in particular.
