US says not involved in killing of Hamas leader Haniyeh

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the United States was not warned before the assassination of Hamas’ top political leader, whose death the militant group and Iran have blamed on Israel. 

"This is something we were not aware of or involved in," Blinken said in an interview from Singapore with Channel News Asia.

Israel is widely suspected in the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, who was staying in northern Tehran when he was "hit by an airborne projectile” at around 2 a.m. local time, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported. Haniyeh was in the Iranian capital for the inauguration ceremony of the country’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, on Tuesday. 

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed that Iran would inflict a “harsh punishment” on Israel to avenge Haniyeh’s death. In a letter Wednesday to the UN Security Council, Iran’s ambassador in New York said the United States shared in the blame.