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Iran’s Leader Orders Retaliatory Strike on Israel, NYT Says

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Photographer: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images (Majid Saeedi/Photographer: Majid Saeedi/Getty)

(Bloomberg) -- Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered a direct strike on Israel in retaliation for what it said was the assassination of Hamas’ top leader while in Tehran, the New York Times reported. 

Khamenei gave the order at an emergency meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Wednesday morning, the newspaper reported, citing three Iranian officials it didn’t identify.

The country’s supreme leader has already publicly threatened retaliation in fiery but predictable language. Reading a statement on state television, he said Iran has a “duty to seek vengeance” and that Israel should expect a “severe punishment.”

If carried out, a direct strike risks further tilting the region toward a wider conflict. In April, Iran and Israel exchanged direct fire for the first time, but in a calibrated measure that avoided escalation. 

The threat comes after Iran and Hamas said Israel assassinated the group’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in an airstrike in Iran’s capital. Israel has not confirmed nor denied involvement.

Iranian commanders are considering a combination of drones and missiles on military targets around Tel Aviv and Haifa while avoiding civilian targets, the New York Times reported. Iran is also considered a coordinated attack with its proxies in Yemen, Syria and Iraq, it said. 

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