Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Saturday that the country's response to the elimination of Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh on its soil would be "precise, calculated and managed", reported the Xinhua news agency.
Araqchi made the remarks in an address to reporters while commenting on his recent phone calls with his German, French and British counterparts, in which they discussed what he described as Israel's "terrorist action" of eliminating Haniyeh, according to the report which cited Iran’s ISNA news agency.
Haniyeh was eliminated on July 31 while on a visit to Tehran for the swearing in of Iran’s new President, Masoud Pezeshkian. Iran and Hamas have both blamed Israel, which has not commented on Haniyeh’s elimination.
Stressing Iran's right to punish Israel for eliminating Haniyeh, Araqchi said in the phone calls that Israel's "aggression" against Iran's national security and sovereignty would definitely not go unanswered, and that Tehran would give its response "precisely and in a calculated and managed way while considering all dimensions."
He added that the revenge "will be taken at the right time and using the appropriate method," the report said.
US, Iranian and Israeli officials recently told The New York Times that Iran is expected to delay planned reprisals against Israel to allow mediators time to make a high-stakes push for a ceasefire to end the war in Gaza.
Previously, three senior Iranian officials told Reuters that Iran could delay or cancel its planned attack against Israel if ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas are successful.
The Deputy Commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Brigadier General Ali Fadavi, stated on Monday that his country will punish Israel “in due time and place” for the elimination of Haniyeh.
“The fake and child-killing Zionist regime continued its stupidity and martyred Haniyeh on Iranian soil, and we will give an appropriate response in due time and place”, Fadavi said, according to IRNA.