Agencies
Tehran
Thousands poured into the streets of Tehran to join the funeral procession of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as Iran weighs its options having promised to avenge his assassination.
The bodies of the Palestinian political official and his bodyguard, who was killed alongside him a day earlier in Iran in a strike blamed on Israel, were marched amid chants in the capital.
Flags of Palestine, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Hamas swayed in the wind as organisers handed out posters of Haniyeh.
Banners honoured the Palestinian leader and the late Iranian general Qassem Soleimani who was assassinated by the United States in 2020, among others.
The entire political elite of Iran, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and new President Masoud Pezeshkian, were also present.
Khamenei conducted a prayer for the dead in front of Haniyeh’s coffin.
The Iranian government declared three days of national mourning after the targeted killing of the high-ranking Hamas leader in Tehran. page 3