Israel behind Wissam al-Hassan assassination: Iran

Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi says Israel masterminded the assassination of the intelligence chief of Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces, General Wissam al-Hassan.

In an interview with the Kuwaiti daily, al-Rai, and Qatari paper Al Watan, Salehi said Israel is the sole party benefitting from the assassination of al-Hassan.

On October 19, a car bomb blast in the Ashrafiya district in eastern Beirut killed at least eight people and injured scores of others. Al-Hassan was among those killed in the blast.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the government was trying to identify the perpetrators and that they would be punished.

Commenting on the war rhetoric of the Israeli regime against Iran, Salehi said Israel would not have created any hype if it really wanted to launch an aggression against the Islamic Republic.

The Iranian foreign minister said if Israel had had the capability of attacking Iran, it would have done so long ago. “The Israelis fear the consequences and ramifications of such an attack.”

Tel Aviv has repeatedly threatened Iran with a military strike, saying that Tehran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran argues that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

Iranian officials have promised a crushing response to any military strike against the country, warning that any such measure could result in a war that would spread beyond the Middle East.