Middle East Crisis LIVE updates: Iran vows ‘revenge’ after Hamas chief’s killing by Israel

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to G7’s topmost diplomats after Joe Biden said he hopes Iran would step down.

Iran, on the other hand, said that it expects Hezbollah to “hit deeper” inside Israel and no longer be confined to military targets. According to Iran’s local media, the retaliatory operations were expected to be “more diverse, more dispersed and impossible to intercept.”

In response to the escalating situation, the United States announced plans to deploy additional warships and fighter jets to the area as the Iran-aligned “Axis of Resistance” prepares to respond to the killing of Haniyeh.

Ismail Haniyeh was killed on July 31 after he had attended the swearing-in of the new Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, in Tehran. The 62-year-old, who lived in Qatar, was the head of the political bureau of Hamas, which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007. On Saturday, Iran said that Haniyeh was killed in Tehran using a “short-range projectile” launched from outside of his accommodation.

Prior to Haniyeh’s killing, Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was killed in an Israeli air strike in Beirut on July 30.

The Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have accused Israel of being behind the incidents, warning them of a “severe punishment at the appropriate place and manner”. It has also accused the United States of supporting Israel.