US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated on Wednesday that the United States was not aware of or involved in the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran.
Blinken made this comment during an interview with Channel News Asia in Singapore, emphasising the importance of achieving a ceasefire.
Hamas reported that Haniyeh was killed by an Israeli air strike while in Iran for the inauguration of Iran’s new president.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared his intention to destroy Hamas in response to its October 7 attack on Israel, which initiated the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Washington is Israel’s key military backer and has been pushing for a Gaza ceasefire, which Blinken said remains “manifestly in the interests” of the Israeli hostages and Gazans who have been “caught in this crossfire of Hamas’s making”.
As the political chief of the Palestinian movement Hamas, Haniyeh was overseeing the negotiations for a deal to end the war in Gaza and release hostages held in the territory in exchange for Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel.
Blinken, who is visiting Singapore, said a Gaza ceasefire was also essential to prevent the conflict from spreading to the rest of the region.
“We’ve been working from day one not only to try to get to a better place in Gaza but also to prevent the conflict from spreading, whether it’s the north with Lebanon and Hezbollah, whether it’s the Red Sea with the Huthis, whether it’s Iran, Syria, Iraq, you name it,” Blinken told a forum in the city-state.
