Hassan Nasrallah meanwhile was the leader of the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah - he was assassinated in Beirut in September as Israel dramatically escalated its military campaign against Hezbollah, with which it had been trading near daily cross-border fire since the day after the 7 October attacks.

The Assad regime’s collapse in Syria means the entire Iranian axis has been disrupted, and ‘as we learned today, it even stopped the Iraqi militias,’

Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz has warned the leadership of Yemen’s Houthis they can expect the same fate as the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, who were assassinated in Tehran and Beirut earlier this year.

Attacking Houthi rebels can't guarantee long-term safety to Israel but IDF should directly target Iran, Jerusalem's opposition politician Benny Gantz and Mossad chief David Barnea claimed

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has confirmed, for the first time, that Israel assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

In the months that followed, Israel directly attacked Iran, assassinated Nasrallah and invaded southern Lebanon. In November it agreed to a US-backed ceasefire in Lebanon that enshrined its right to unilaterally enforce any alleged violations by Hezbollah.

Ismail Haniyeh led Gaza ceasefire talks when an explosive device planted by Israeli operatives weeks earlier killed him.

Iran claims Israel's admission of assassinating former Hamas leader Haniyeh justifies its October missile attack, escalating diplomatic tensions after Katz's recent statements.

In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Iranian envoy Amir Saeid Iravani argued that the admission legitimised Iran's ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1, which had sent millions of Israelis into shelters as approximately 200 missiles targeted the country.

New York, IRNA - Iran's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to UN announced in a letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations and the Security Council wrote Israeli regime's clear admission of its responsibility for this heinous crime,