Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi says Tehran has a legitimate right to respond to the Israeli regime’s terrorist crime of assassinating Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.
In a phone conversation with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aati on Saturday, Araqchi underlined the country’s absolute right to respond to Israel’s assassination of the Hamas leader, who was assassinated while he was in Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Iranian political and military leadership, including Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and President Pezeshkian, have vowed to avenge Haniyeh's blood.
Pointing to Israel’s campaign of death, destruction and genocide in Gaza, Araqchi hailed Egypt’s great efforts to establish a ceasefire which will also be accepted by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.
Hamas announced on Saturday that its delegation will arrive in Egypt later in the day to "listen to" the results of the Gaza ceasefire negotiations in Cairo.
In a statement, Ezzat al-Rishq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said the delegation is led by a senior official of the movement Khalil al-Hayya and was formed following an invitation from Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
Israel has massacred over 40,300 Palestinians, mostly children and women, in Gaza since October 2023.
The Egyptian foreign minister, for his part, informed his Iranian counterpart on his country’s diplomatic efforts in recent days to stop the war in Gaza and dispatch international humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinians territory.
Aati said all sides should make efforts to prevent the spread of war in the region.
The top Iranian and Egyptian diplomats agreed to continue political consultations on mutual relations and the developments in the region.