Iran has arrested more than two dozen people, including senior intelligence officers, military officials and staff workers at a military-run guesthouse in Tehran, in response to a huge and humiliating security breach that enabled the assassination of a top leader of Hamas, according to two Iranians familiar with the investigation.
The high-level arrests came after the killing early Wednesday of Ismail Haniyeh, who had led Hamas’ political office in Qatar and was visiting Tehran for the inauguration of Iran’s new president and staying in northern Tehran, Iran’s capital.
The fervour of the response to the killing of Haniyeh underscores what a devastating security failure this was for Iran’s leadership, with the assassination occurring at a heavily guarded compound in the country’s capital within hours of the swearing-in ceremony of the country’s new president.