Published: 12:30, November 25, 2025
Iran pledges retaliation for Israeli assassination of senior Hezbollah commander
By Xinhua
Hezbollah fighters carry the coffin of Hezbollah's Chief of Staff Haytham Tabtabai, who was killed with other Hezbollah fighters in Sunday's Israeli airstrike, during his funeral procession in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Nov 24, 2025. (PHOTO / AP)

TEHERAN -- Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Monday vowed a "crushing response" to Israel over the assassination of senior Hezbollah commander Haytham Ali Tabtabai.

In a statement on its official news outlet, Sepah News, the IRGC condemned Israel's "brutal crime", saying Tabtabai was targeted in Beirut's southern suburbs in a "flagrant and terrorist" act. The statement added that "the resistance axis and Hezbollah" reserve the right to avenge the killing and that a decisive response would come "at the appropriate time."

At least five people, including Tabtabai, were killed and 28 others wounded in Sunday's Israeli airstrike on a residential apartment in Haret Hreik, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Iran's Foreign Ministry also condemned the strike in a statement on Monday, calling the attack a "brutal aggression" against Lebanon's territorial integrity and national sovereignty.