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CNN's Breaking News Coverage on the Assassination of Hamas Political Leader Ismail Haniyeh. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired July 31, 2024 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNNI ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and around the world. I'm Becky Anderson, in London.

Following breaking news for you this morning, reaction is now pouring in from across the Middle East and beyond to the apparent assassination of the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh.

The group says he was killed in Tehran after meeting with Iran's newly elected president, which you see here, and attending his inauguration. Iran's state media says an airborne guided projectile was used to strike where Haniyeh was staying in the Iranian capital. Hamas was quick to blame Israel, calling it a, quote, "Zionist strike."

There has been no official confirmation from Israel, only saying that it doesn't respond to reports from foreign media.

Well, Haniyeh was a longtime member of Hamas, joining in the late 1980s and rising through the ranks over the years before becoming the group's political chief in 2017. One Hamas official calls the assassination a, quote, "moment of truth for Israel." Another says it's a, quote, "cowardly act which will not pass in vain." Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas calls Haniyeh's killing a, quote, "dangerous development."

As for any U.S. response, the White House says it's aware of the reports but has so far not commented.

Well these reports come after Israel claimed just hours earlier that it had killed Hezbollah's most senior commander in a drone strike in Beirut. Israel says it was retaliation for Saturday's deadly rocket attack in the occupied Golan Heights. Hezbollah denies being involved in that attack.

The IDF blamed Fu'ad Shukr for that attack, which killed 12 children and injured more than 40 people. As I say, Hezbollah denies it was responsible and has yet to confirm the commander's death. But that militant group now acknowledges Shukr was present at the time of the strike in Beirut.

The Lebanese health ministry says a woman and two children were killed in the strike with 74 others injured. Lebanon's caretaker prime minister condemned the attack, calling it a clear violation of international law. 24 hours. Two assassinations, it seems, of two significant characters, players in the Middle East militant environment.

Joining me now here in London is Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton walsh. Let's start in Tehran and the death of the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. What do we know about the strike?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, limited, absolutely limited at this time. Two o'clock in the morning, an explosion heard in northern Tehran appears to have hit Ismail Haniyeh, clearly here staying in what they refer to as a special guest house for veterans.

Unclear under whose protection he necessarily was. You would imagine somebody clearly on Israel's wanted list there would hope to have the full protection of the Iranian state.

Quite unclear the extent of the damage done to the building where he was. An airborne guided projectile is the phrase being used by Iranian state media. That could be anything. That could even be a bullet, frankly. It could be a drone piloted from nearby. It could be a drone piloted from far away in Israel. We simply don't know those key details here. A bodyguard also killed. And so there clearly is precision here. There's clear intelligence. It's exactly where he was.

We're not at this point hearing about extensive casualties and damage to the surrounding area, so the possibility that this was indeed targeted.

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And all those details come together now to help Iran form its narrative about what happened here. Was this its airspace violated? Was this an egregious assault on the protection guarantees of the Revolutionary Guard Corps? Do they essentially feel this was an insult against them because he was there protected by them?

We simply don't know. And that will add to the pressure on Tehran here to formulate a response.

Now, they have in the past seen top nuclear scientists on the outskirts of Tehran. It seems killed by Israeli proxies or assassins there and not taken to the mattresses, so to speak, in their response. So they have a variety of options, but certainly the two killings. We went to bed thinking maybe the assassination in Beirut could tip the region over the edge. Now they've gone a full level further.

And a big question here, I think, frankly, about quite how potent these U.S. calls for calm and de-escalation have indeed been if a move like this follows one like that. ANDERSON: Nick, as you rightly point out, it will clearly be some time

perhaps before we see what the Iranian narrative is here. After all, a strike within Iran, ostensibly expectations are that this was by Israel, although Israel has said it just doesn't respond to foreign media reports.

PATON WALSH: Which is very common line for an instance like this.

ANDERSON: The Israeli narrative, which doesn't exist at present, as we've just suggested, we will wait for. This is, though, an attack, a strike, an assassination being applauded and celebrated in Israel.

PATON WALSH: Certainly. Look, Israel have been absolutely clear that someone like Haniyeh is on their target list. And so his decision to travel to somewhere like Tehran for inauguration of Massoud Pazeshgian, the comparatively moderate new Iranian president inaugurated just yesterday, he must have felt he had the security guarantees he needed. He must have felt that the idea of being hit in Tehran was just an act far too brazen for Israel. What a phenomenal miscalculation that appears to have been by him and Iranian officials too.

But it's a sign, I think, that Israel is on the front foot, has extraordinary capabilities and precise information there.

And it's also a test for Pazeshgian as well, because here he is confronting an extraordinary challenge to the integrity, the sovereignty of Iran, its ability to offer traveling guests basic security guarantees for something as integral as an inauguration ceremony.

That's going to be a huge embarrassment. The way they phrase this, though, is utterly going to dictate the next 24, 48 hours.

And, Becky, the important thing here really in the real world, outside of the rhetoric and the fury, is what options does Iran indeed have?

And they tried a 300-strong missile and drone strike after senior IRGC commanders were killed in Damascus in April. That didn't get through. 99 percent were intercepted by Israel and their allies.

And they do have the potential card of Hezbollah in the northern border areas to Israel in Lebanon. But they haven't wanted to play that over multiple months. And it's clear, if this happens to Iran, that's something they're reserving for maybe a different time. And so, yeah, we have to see quite what they're able to do. Do they pause and choose a different time in a more asymmetric fashion to respond?

ANDERSON: And it's important to note that there has been no response from Washington, which has simply said, and this is the Biden administration, has simply said it has seen reports of the strike that killed the Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh.

But the U.S. does insist, and we've heard Lloyd Austin, the defense minister, say this overnight, it insists it still has and has Israel's back, and of course had Israel's back in response to the April retaliation by Iran that you've just been reporting on. Are you surprised to date, and we're only hours into this, that we've seen nothing more from Washington?

PATON WALSH: I mean, Austin did say, traveling in Asia, that he still felt war was not inevitable. And that's their key position here. I think that's true to some degree. It is not an obvious escalation here where we're over a waterfall over the edge and there's nothing more other than necessarily chaos below.

But it's a sign, possibly, of how far, if we believe the notion that Israel couldn't have carried out something like this without some sense of US acquiescence, foreknowledge, intelligence, who knows, that maybe the U.S. are happy to let Israel push the limit.

And it's also potentially a sign that publicly, at least, there are calls for de-escalation, for calm, for a general sense of trying to step back from the brink, having the last 24 hours, by the second strike, not been ignored.

The strike on southern Beirut, so deep into Hezbollah's heartland, certainly a message from Israel that it was willing to go an extra stage further, but calculated, relatively restrained, horrific civilian-side injuries in that event, but not in itself going to push Hezbollah to feel it has to launch hundreds of rockets back at Israel.

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This, an extra element, but at the same time, too, not an Iranian killed in Iran, somebody clearly on Israel's target list, a very technically accomplished operation, it seems, from the limited amount of information that we know, precise, with phenomenally accurate intelligence.

And so, again, a complete wild card here, but not necessarily one that mandates a full-throttled Iranian and Hezbollah response back towards Israel in the coming hours.

ANDERSON: It's certainly, though, a concern around the region. We've heard that from the Turkish foreign minister, not directly pointing the finger of blame at Israel, but suggesting that Benjamin Netanyahu does not want peace in the region and worrying about further regional escalation of what is ultimately the Gaza conflict at this point.

And we are hearing that from various interlocutors around the region. Good to have you. Thank you very much indeed. Nick Paton walsh in the house for you.

Joining us now is Firas Maksad, senior fellow and senior director for strategic outreach at the Middle East Institute. And you, just in the past, what, 12 or so hours, had suggested that the assassination of the key Hezbollah leader, if that is, in fact, what happened, Hezbollah not admitting to the death of Fouad Saker yet, but you suggested that his death in Beirut was just the opening salvo in what may happen next with regard Israel-Lebanon.

Firas, we now are reporting within the same sort of 24-hour window the, it seems, assassination of the Hamas political leader in Tehran. What do you make of where we are at at this point?

FIRAS MAKSAD, SR. FELLOW AND SR. DIRECTOR FOR STRATEGIC OUTREACH, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Becky, good to be with you again. At this point, all bets are off. There was a dynamic prior to the assassination that we woke up to this morning of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

There was a dynamic that, in a hopeful scenario, would have seen Iran play a restraining role on Hezbollah and its other assets in the region to de-escalate, and that this through back-channel diplomacy between Washington and Tehran would be contained.

By itself, the assassination of what is essentially Hezbollah's top military commander, Fu'ad Shukr, who predates even Hassan Nasrallah, the political head of Hezbollah, in terms of being one of the founding members, the founding generation of Hezbollah, that that could be contained.

Today, with the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in the heart of Tehran, in what appears to be an airstrike of a sort, either through a drone or a jet outside of Iranian airspace that totally changes the dynamic. And Iran itself now feels the need to respond, possibly directly, or I would think there's a great possibility that this will see an orchestrated, region-wide campaign that brings the various Iranian-sponsored militias from Iraq, from Yemen, from Lebanon, and maybe even Tehran itself, in a direct response on Israel. So this is unprecedented, and it's very difficult to say that, given what we've seen in the past 10 months of conflict.

But I feel like we're actually a notch closer to a region-wide conflict today than we've ever been.

ANDERSON: I wonder, to pursue your line here, whether we could expect not just a direct response from Iran, and we'll have to wait to see what that looks like, on Israel, but perhaps through its proxies, an indirect, a response not just on Israel, but on others around the region, deemed to be, sort of loosely termed, allies of Israel.

MAKSAD: Yes, I mean, that's one of the big questions out there. Have these assassinations been green-lighted and shared with the United States, or did Israel act without the foreknowledge of the Biden administration? And I ask that question because, clearly, the U.S. is going to be an active participant in whatever comes next, as it was back in April, when Israel flattened the Iranian consulate in Damascus, and that necessitated a direct Iranian response, in which U.S. defenses, where it played an essential role. Already there are early reports that U.S. warships are moving closer to the eastern Mediterranean, to the Lebanese coast, in anticipation of what might come next.

So this is a situation where these decisions are not only having an impact on Israel itself, but also U.S. national security interests. And certainly the U.S. has several vulnerabilities in the region, including its bases in Iraq and Syria.

[03:15:05] ANDERSON: A regional escalation is not inevitable. Those are the words of Lloyd Austin, the defense minister today, speaking over the past 24 hours in Asia, where he is traveling. Washington not responding specifically to the death of the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh. But those are the words in the past window, as it were, of Austin.

And a number of people I've spoken to this morning, reading into that, to a degree, the U.S. is banking on the same sort of moment here as we had back in April, when the responses from both Israel and Iran were out there, but they were contained, not least because the U.S. was involved in everything that was going on.

I just wonder whether those who are taking some comfort in Lloyd Austin's words this morning are a step, sort of, ahead of themselves at this point. What do you think?

MAKSAD: I think the Secretary's words were very carefully chosen and very delicately crafted. He did not say that a region-wide escalation of war is unlikely.

He said it's not inevitable. And to my mind here, reading between the lines, what's left unsaid is that a region-wide escalation is likely. I would say very likely.

Perhaps an all-out war might not be inevitable. There might still be a chance of avoiding that.

But in all likelihood, we're looking at several dark days ahead in which the region will be at the precipice of an all-out war, probably an escalation like we haven't seen in the past 10 months. But let me say this, Becky. I think what Israel has demonstrated in the past 24 hours is an extraordinary capability in terms of intelligence through the ranks of Hezbollah to be able to penetrate and also the Iranian regime the precise kind of actionable intelligence that's timely, that's needed to assassinate such senior figures.

That is a huge success, no doubt, for Benjamin Netanyahu. However, these are tactical victories. We all know that these assassinations of senior leaders have taken place before, and these people are replaceable.

Strategically here, Iran and its allies, through continuing to build their capabilities, hundreds of thousands of precision-guided missiles with Hezbollah, the Iranian regime being closer than ever, according to Secretary Blinken, perhaps even a week away from becoming a full- fledged nuclear state, those are major strategic victories and progress that both sides or Israel's adversaries, have been making. So this is a moment of temporary success, as it is for Israel, but in the longer term, I wonder what the strategic thinking is in Jerusalem.

ANDERSON: Fascinating. It's good to have you, Firas, who is in Istanbul this morning. Firas Maksad, as we've been reporting, the Turkish foreign minister, concerned that we've been reporting on the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh and the potential for a response at this point from Iran could ratchet things up in this region to breaking point and not pointing the finger of blame directly at Israel, but suggesting, this is the foreign ministry from Turkey this morning, suggesting that Benjamin Netanyahu is not looking for peace in this region.

Firas, good to have you. Thank you, sir. In a moment, more on our breaking news. The assassination of a top Hamas leader. Stay with CNN.

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ANDERSON: All right, more on our breaking news from Tehran this morning. Hamas officials reacting with condemnation and defiance after the apparent assassination of the group's political leader, Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Hamas says he was killed in an Israeli strike in Tehran after attending the inauguration of Iran's new president on Tuesday. Israel so far has not commented or claimed responsibility.

Well 62-year-old Haniyeh was born in a Gaza refugee camp. He joined Hamas in the late 1980s during the first intifada. Haniyeh rose through the ranks, becoming the group's political chief in 2017 and soon after, he was named a specially designated global terrorist by the United States.

Let's get you to Haifa, Israel, and to CNN's Jeremy Dimon. No official response, as I understand it, as of yet from Israel, but news that is being applauded, nay, celebrated in Israel. Jeremy.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: No question about it. For months now, Becky, Israeli leaders have made clear that they would take out all of Hamas' leaders who they viewed as responsible for the horrors of October 7th, and that, of course, includes Hamas' political leader, Ismail Haniyeh.

And now, they have shown that they have not only made good on that, but shown that they could even carry out that assassination on Iranian soil in the Iranian capital, which is an extraordinary feat at that, one that is going to raise significant questions in Tehran about how Israeli intelligence, Israeli operations were able to actually pull this off.

But what is perhaps most important at this hour, Becky, is the impact that this is going to have on this region. When we went to bed last night, we were already dealing with a region that was teetering on the edge of a potential wider escalation of this conflict with an Israeli airstrike that Israeli officials say killed Fu'ad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander and advisor to the Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah.

And then waking up this morning, we learned of this assassination in Tehran of Hamas' political leader.

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Both Hezbollah and Hamas are, of course, viewed as key Iranian proxies in the region. And in addition to the fact that they are proxies, the fact that this assassination took place on Iranian soil is going to raise the stakes considerably.

And so all eyes are now on Iran and on Iranian proxies in the region to see how exactly they will respond to this targeted assassination that appears to have been carried out.

All indications are that this was indeed carried out by Israel. But, of course, beyond the regional tensions, there is also the impact that this may have on those ongoing hostage and ceasefire negotiations.

Ismail Haniyeh was effectively home-based in Doha, Qatar. And Qatar, of course, was a key mediator. And Haniyeh was viewed as one of the key interlocutors in these negotiations.

And so we are just now getting a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Qatar calling this a heinous crime and a dangerous escalation, warning, effectively, of the possibility of further regional escalation because of what they call reckless Israeli behavior.

So there's no doubt that this will, at least in the short term, effectively forestall the possibility of any progress in those negotiations. We will have to see what the effect will be in the medium and the long term.

But there's no question that this is having tremendous implications on those negotiations and also on a region that is already very much on the edge. Becky.

ANDERSON: Yeah, absolutely. Jeremy Diamond is in Haifa in Israel. Let me bring in -- Thank you, Jeremy.

Let me bring in H.A. Hellyer, who is today in Malaysia. He's a Middle East Studies scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. And I was reading some of what you've been posting on X, formerly Twitter, this morning, and I thought you made a very good point in this talk of the potential for further escalation around the region, which is important. You've also made the point that we need to be very mindful about the unintended consequences of what we have seen both in Tehran overnight and the attack, the strike on the Hezbollah leader in Beirut yesterday. Just explain what you mean by that, H.A.

H.A. HELLYER, MIDDLE EAST STUDIES SCHOLAR, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: So, Becky, thank you very much. Always a pleasure to be on your program. Here's the issue. When we talk about controlled escalation or calculated escalation, I think we're really fooling ourselves. There's no such thing. When you engage in conflict and you use technology, especially on places that are quite far away from where you are, then you have no way to predict precisely what's going to happen.

In fact, this is one scenario for what happened last week in Mejlis Shams in the Syrian-occupied Golan Heights. One intelligence report came out saying that actually the attack was by, quote-unquote, "mistake." And I say by mistake in quotation marks because one scenario here is that Hezbollah were aiming for something else in the Golan Heights and unfortunately hit something that they didn't intend to. But as a result, children died.

And then you set into this cycle of escalation. By the same token, the Israelis may feel that they are doing, quote-unquote, "a calculated escalation" by targeting this or that.

And we're assuming that they will remain targeted and calculated because, of course, when it comes to Gaza, there's been very little in terms of targeting and calculation. It's been, you know, tens of thousands of people dead and, you know, an incredible amount of, quote-unquote, "permissible collateral damage." Right?

The Iranians, when they respond, as they inevitably will, to this assassination of Haniyeh in Tehran, they will probably want to avoid a regional conflict that will plunge them and everybody else into a devastating war.

So they will, quote-unquote, "calculate" about how they're going to do it. But nobody can tell where it's going to go. You don't know what is going to happen as a result. You can't predict all of the variables and control all the factors.

ANDERSON: Nothing from Washington on this deadly strike in Tehran which killed the Hamas political leader Ismail Haneyeh, save for a statement that they have seen the news. One of these sort of holding statements, as it were. We're monitoring the situation. We have heard from Lloyd Austin overnight, who is in Asia, who has said he doesn't see a regional escalation as inevitable at this point. Again, read into that what you may.

But this idea of sort of calculated strategy, calculated responses that you bring up here, which I think is really interesting, is one, perhaps, that our viewers might think sort of suits the United States.

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Of course, you know, the ratcheting up of response and counter- response back in April between Israel and Iran, very much it seemed managed in the background by the United States.

We know it has assets in region, in the Mediterranean, of course, and in the air, if needs be. But Washington is not going to want to get involved at this stage with 98 days to go until an election in a wider regional conflict. But it needs to be very careful about what it's doing here and the indications or the permissions, in inverted commas, that it's giving to Israel at this point, does it not?

HELLYER: It really does. And I think, you know, what you mentioned right now is very much on point. The issue here is that escalation will happen by, unfortunately, default unless de-escalation is actively sought. OK, because that's the direction. Right? When you have, you know, daily bombing and bombardment of Gaza with tens of thousands of mostly civilians dying, then, you know, escalation is the default position. We want to have a de-escalation paradigm take over here. And that can only happen as a result of an active effort. And thus far, unfortunately, not enough energy has been put into that. The United States has not been willing to use the leverage that it actually has on Israel vis-a-vis the United Nations, but also vis-a-vis arms transfers and support in order to force Israel to a serious negotiation position.

On the contrary, what we've seen, and this has been confirmed multiple times now by even Israeli press itself, we've seen that Benjamin Netanyahu has sabotaged ceasefire negotiations multiple times over the past 10 months.

This isn't sustainable. We need to find a way to de-escalate. Otherwise, the inevitable consequence is going to be escalation and the plunging of the region into a spiral of devastating conflict that I think would be absolutely catastrophic for everybody.

ANDERSON: Nobody wants that in region at all, not least those in the Gulf who will tell you that they are navigating a new Middle East rather than looking backwards towards what many around the world have seen as a conflict-ridden region. They look forward to what is a new Middle East with de-escalation, economic integration and the rest of it. That is, it seems, a bit of a pipe dream at the moment as we sit today, at least, with this risk of a further escalation staring us in the face.

H.A., it's good to have you. H.A. Hellyer in the house. Back in a moment with more breaking news on the assassination of a top Hamas leader. Stay with us.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

ANDERSON: And more now on our breaking news. Iranian state media report an investigation is underway following the killing of Hamas' political leader, Ismail Haniyeh.

Hamas says he was killed in Tehran after attending the inauguration ceremony of Iran's new president. One Hamas official calls the assassination a cowardly act and says Haniyeh's killing, quote, "will not pass in vain." Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says Haniyeh's killing is a dangerous development.

Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV says that a Hamas official has said this in response. This occupation must realize that it has opened fire on itself, not on Ismail Haniyeh.

Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi, joining us now. We know this strike on a residence occupied where Ismail Haniyeh was staying happened around two o'clock in the morning. What else do we know at this point? PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, as you say, 2:00 a.m.

is when the strike took place. We understand from state-run agency IRNA that it was a, quote, "airborne guided projectile." Now, that doesn't narrow it down too much at this point, but we know from state media that an investigation is underway at this point to find out more details of what exactly happened. And also we understand the position from which the projectile was fired. This investigation we understand from a statement from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

So clearly they want to find out exactly what happened, how this could have happened, because it is a very embarrassing security lapse to allow this to have happened. We know that Ismail Haniyeh was in Tehran for the inauguration of the new Iranian president. It was a state event, and certainly there would have been an expectation of protection within Tehran itself.

Now, we know that Ismail Haniyeh was a marked man. Israel had made that very clear on a number of occasions, saying that everybody who was involved in the October 7th attacks by Hamas on Israel was a target, saying that they were going to go after the leadership. And certainly we have seen that happen over recent months.

Now, Ismail Haniyeh himself was a very significant person within the Hamas group. He did join the group back in the 80's for the first intifada, but it was really the late 90's when it became clear that he was going to be a key political leader. He became the personal assistant, if you like, to the founder of Hamas, the spiritual leader, Sheikh Yassin.

And he actually survived a previous assassination attempt while with Sheikh Yassin by Israel back in 2003. Both were injured. Sheikh Yassin killed just months later. But he was a key person within this group and, of course, a key interlocutor as well when it comes to the possible hostage ceasefire deal that was trying to be hammered out at this point to release Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners and a ceasefire.

[03:40:08]

That's clearly, from the Hamas statements that we are hearing at this point, very fiery statements will be on hold at best. Becky.

ANDERSON: Paula Hancocks is in Abu Dhabi. Thank you.

Haniyeh is the second leader of an Iran-backed militant group reported to have been assassinated on Tuesday. Just hours earlier, Israel said it had killed Hezbollah's most senior military commander in a drone strike in Beirut. The IDF claims Fu'ad Shukr was responsible for the attack that left a dozen children dead in the Golan Heights on Saturday. Hezbollah acknowledges he was in the building at the time of the strike, but the group has yet to confirm his death. The Lebanese health ministry says a woman and two kids were killed.

Well, joining me now, CNN's Ben Wedeman in Beirut. I just want to slightly recount the way I described what has gone on in the last 24 hours. Certainly Hezbollah, Iran-backed. Hamas more co-opted, as it were, by Iran, co-opting the Gaza conflict in and of itself. But Ben, what do you make of the news of the death of the Hamas leader in Tehran overnight local time and what we have seen now come to pass in the past 24 hours?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Haniyeh attack is really assassination. It is something of a surprise given that in Rome on Sunday the United States, Qatar, Israel, Egypt and others were there to negotiate some sort of ceasefire agreement, the release of the hostages.

And then on Wednesday Israel kills the senior Hamas leader who is involved indirectly in those negotiations.

So it really sends the message that Israel has, in a sense, given up on the negotiations. Maybe you could even say has given up on those hostages and is just trying to eliminate the leadership of Hamas, whether they're making progress in those negotiations or not. So on that side it certainly does raise the level of tension to unprecedented levels. Now, the assassination last night or the strike last night on Beirut that we believe led to the killing of Fu'ad Shukr certainly raises the temperature here as well.

And we don't know whether Fu'ad Shukr was actually killed. Hamas, Hezbollah put out a rather strange statement after many hours that came out this morning essentially saying, you know, the civil defense workers are clearing away the rubble at the site of the strike in Beirut. And as they progress perhaps the fate of Fu'ad Shukr will become clear. I think at this point it's obvious he is dead.

Now, I think, you know, I was listening to my friend H.A. Hellyer speaking to you before the break, and I think certainly what he said is correct, underscoring that the United States has played a fairly weak and passive role in trying to bring this conflict now almost ending its 10th month, that the United States simply has not exerted the kind of influence and leverage that it has to bring this conflict to an end.

It's gone on to the point where it started focused on Gaza, and now we are on the brink of potentially a regional war, and the United States simply at this point appears to be sitting on the sidelines, sitting on its hands. Becky?

ANDERSON: It's good to have you, Ben. Thank you very much indeed. Ben Wedeman is in Beirut.

We are everywhere you need to be as we continue to report on what is going on. Out of Tehran overnight and around the region, Hamas vowing revenge after the assassination of a top leader. The latest on our breaking news is next.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ANDERSON: For an update on our breaking news, Hamas says the assassination of its political leader will not pass in vain. The group says Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran after he attended the inauguration of the country's new president. This was overnight Tehran time. Iranian state media says Haniyeh died around 2:00 a.m. local time when an airborne guided projectile struck the residence that he was staying in.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is with me here in London. Question is, what happens next? As we continue to press for further details about what happened in Tehran, what are the likely consequences at this point?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Incredibly dangerous moment in the region. Yet again, of course, just in the last 24 hours, as you have been discussing, it's just been an incredibly dangerous, intense moment in the region.

We're going to have to wait and see what sort of reaction we're going to be getting from the Iranians, if any at all. But we're starting to get various groups and governments reacting to this very slowly this morning. But you have Hamas officials describing this as a cowardly act that will not pass in vain.

But realistically, of course, Becky, we know the state that Hamas is in, the situation in Gaza and the ongoing war. They're really not in a position, realistically, to respond or retaliate to this. But, of course, you would expect such a statement from them.

And you also have Palestinian officials, including the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and others coming out condemning the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh and praising him, the Russians, the Russian deputy foreign minister, saying that this was absolutely unacceptable political assassination that threatens further escalation in the region, something we are hearing from other governments as well.

Two major regional players, of course, reacting in the past hour or so, Turkey and Qatar both. Turkey describing this as, quote, "a despicable act that aims to escalate the war in Gaza to a regional level." And this, of course, has been the fear of so many that this region has felt that it has been on edge, that it is one incident away from major escalation.

[03:50:04]

ANDERSON: And you make a very good point. In a week, and we are only midway through this week, in a week that we hope we might get further momentum on ceasefire and hostage talks. Those talks, of course, were supposed to be happening in Rome this week.

Ceasefire talks, at least in principle, a temporary ceasefire in Gaza in the first instance. That, one assumes, we would have to assume is now sort of off at this point. If Israel was behind this assassination, and they haven't admitted to this, they haven't claimed responsibility for the assassination of the Hamas political leader, this is a man who is deeply involved in those ceasefire and hostage talks. Many, and I speak to a lot of sources on those talks, will tell you that this was the guy pushing for a deal and a compromise. That's off the table at this point.

KARADSHEH: I mean, it would seem so, right, Becky? I mean, and you have, again, we're seeing this coming in from reactions from these countries, including Qatar, of course. That has been a key player in these talks and what they have said, that this is pushing the region away from achieving peace.

You have the Turkish foreign ministry, while they haven't come out and accused Israel of being behind this assassination, what they have said, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no intention of achieving peace.

ANDERSON: Jomana Karadsheh is on the story for you. Always good to have you here with me in the studio. Jomana, thank you.

More to come on our breaking news. The assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. After this short break. Stay with us.

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ANDERSON: Updating our breaking news, Hamas says its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, has been assassinated in Tehran.

According to Iranian state media, an airborne guided projectile was used to strike, where Haniyeh was staying in northern Tehran after he had attended the inauguration of Iran's new president. Hamas has referred to it as a, quote, "Zionist strike." So far, no official comment from Israel, other than saying it doesn't respond to reports from foreign media.

Well, Haniyeh was 62, born in a refugee camp near Gaza City. He joined Hamas in the 1980's, became political chief in 2017 and was later named a specially designated global terrorist by the United States.

All right, thanks for your company. I'm Becky Anderson. I'll be back with my colleague Max Foster after this short break.

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