Minister of Intelligence: According to the IRGC report, infiltrators played no role in the assassination of Haniyeh

A few weeks after reports citing a senior IRGC commander denying the role of 'infiltration' in the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau of the extremist group Hamas in Tehran, the Minister of Intelligence confirmed this issue. Hamas is recognized as a terrorist group by the US, Israel, and the European Union. On Saturday, September 3, Ismail Khatib stated in an exclusive interview with the Jamaran website: 'According to the reports and statements issued by the IRGC, no role has been seen for infiltrators in the assassination of martyr Haniyeh.' However, he did not refer to the reports and investigations of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence in this regard and only confirmed the report attributed to the IRGC. On July 14, Ibrahim Rezaei, the spokesman for the Iranian Parliament's National Security Commission, quoted the deputy head of the IRGC's Quds Force as saying that 'infiltration is not a factor' in the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. According to the IRGC, Haniyeh was killed in the early hours of August 10 at a residence in northern Tehran due to 'short-range projectile fire.' He had traveled to Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Masoud Porshikian and was assassinated hours later. The spokesman for the National Security Commission also stated, without providing details, that the deputy minister of intelligence announced in this meeting that 'extensive field actions' have been taken following Haniyeh's assassination. While the Islamic Republic does not publish information on this matter, the New York Times reported, citing two Iranian sources, that more than 20 individuals, some of whom are high-ranking, have been arrested at the military guesthouse in Tehran where Ismail Haniyeh was killed. According to the newspaper, the over 20 detainees include senior intelligence officers, military officials, and staff working at this guesthouse. While IRGC officials and the Minister of Intelligence deny the role of 'infiltration' and 'infiltrators' in Haniyeh's assassination in Tehran, the necessity of a 'root cleansing' in Iran's security and intelligence institutions has been raised again by some political figures after this incident. For instance, the newspaper Jomhouri Eslami wrote on August 11 about the presence of 'infiltrators' within Iran, adding that the fact that Israel can 'fire a missile from the window of Ismail Haniyeh's bedroom in a completely secure location in Tehran' means that Israel has 'infiltrators' inside Iran.