TEHRAN, (PIC)
A grand state funeral procession was held on Wednesday in the Iranian capital, Tehran, for martyr Ismail Haneyya, head of Hamas’s political bureau, who was assassinated yesterday in an Israeli strike on his residence.
Haneyya was assassinated in a strike in Tehran during a visit for the inauguration of newly elected president Masoud Pezeshkian
Earlier in the morning, Iranian news agency IRNA published pictures of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praying in front of a gathered congregation, which included officials and citizens, at Tehran University in the city center.
Tens of thousands of mourners carrying posters of Haneyya and Palestinian flags gathered for the funeral ceremony at Tehran University before the procession, IRNA said.
Following the prayers, massive crowds accompanied the body of Haneyya and his bodyguard, who was also killed in the strike on Wednesday, and marched to Azadi (Freedom) Square in the city.
Khamenei has already vowed to avenge Haneyya and issued an order to strike the Israeli occupation state directly.
President Masoud Pezeshkian and Revolutionary Guard Corps chief Hussein Salami were present in the funeral ceremony.
During the funeral ceremony, senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya vowed that “Ismail Haneyya’s slogan, ‘We will not recognize Israel,’ will remain an immortal slogan” and that the Palestinian resistance “will continue to resist the Israeli occupation until it is uprooted from the land of Palestine.”
Addressing mourners, Iran’s parliament speaker Mohamed Ghalibaf said Iran “will certainly carry out the supreme leader’s order (to avenge Haneyya).”
“It is our duty to respond at the right time and in the right place,” he added.
