Tehran - The new Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian, faces a tumultuous start to his administration following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas political bureau, in Tehran. This incident has shifted the focus of Pezeshkian's government from potential dialogue with the West to the looming threat of regional conflict.
The assassination on July 31 occurred just hours after Pezeshkian's inauguration, where he expressed support for resistance movements, including Hamas. The emotional response from Pezeshkian during Haniyeh's funeral highlights the gravity of the situation and the potential for escalating tensions between Iran and Israel.
Experts suggest that Haniyeh's assassination was strategically timed to provoke Iran into a military response, thereby igniting a wider conflict in the region. International relations professor Jawad Hiran Nia argues that this act was designed to disrupt Pezeshkian's agenda of reform and dialogue, pushing Iran further into a confrontational stance against Israel.
