Biden vows to defend ‘ready’ Israel as Hezbollah, Iran meets allies Hamas, Houthis, Hezbollah to discuss retaliation

Joe Biden tells Benjamin Netanyahu the US will defend Israel ‘against all threats’ as Ayatollah Khamenei and officials meet members of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis to plan revenge.

US President Joe Biden has told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Washington is committed to defending Israel’s security “against all threats from Iran,” as Iranian officals meet regional allies from Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen to discuss retaliation for the assassination Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Mr Biden, who was joined on the call by Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, also emphasised the “ongoing efforts to de-escalate broader tensions in the region,” the White House said in a statement.

The US has also made new defensive military deployments to help defend Israel, the White House announced in its readout of the call.

In Iran, officials including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met Iran’s Palestinian terror allies Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as well as Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthi movement, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iraqi militias, according to Reuters.

“Iran and the resistance members will conduct a thorough assessment after the meeting in Tehran to find the best and most effective way to retaliate against the Zionist regime,” a source told Reuters.

General Mohammad Baqeri, Iran’s armed forces chief of staff, told state TV: “How Iran and the resistance front will respond is currently being reviewed… This will certainly happen and the Zionist regime will undoubtedly regret it.”

It came after it emerged that Haniyeh had been killed by a remote controlled bomb smuggled into his residence in Tehran, and Israel announced it had “eliminated Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.

Mr Netanyahu’s government has not commented on Haniyeh’s assassination in Tehran, but the Palestinian militant group has blamed Israel.

Mr Netanyahu has declared Israel was prepared for any “aggression” against it following threats of retaliation for the killings of top Hamas and Hezbollah figures

Biden, who was joined on the call by Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, also emphasized the “ongoing efforts to de-escalate broader tensions in the region,” the White House said in a statement.

The call between the leaders also came after Israel announced it had “eliminated Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.

Ismail Haniyeh and Fuad Shukr.

“Israel is at a very high level of preparation for any scenario, both defensive and offensive. We will make any act of aggression against us pay a very high price,” Mr Netanyahu said in a statement.

“Those who attack us, we will attack in return.”

His comments came as Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned the Lebanese group was bound to respond “with rage and revenge” to Israel’s killing of its top military commander, Fuad Shukr, in a strike on Tuesday in Beirut.

Claiming the fighting had entered “a new phase,” Nasrallah said the battle had entered a ‘new phase’ and Israelis would “weep terribly” in the days ahead.

“You do not know what red lines you crossed,” Nasrallah said during a speechat Shukr’s funeral.

“The enemy, and those who are behind the enemy, must await our inevitable response.”

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah giving a televised address at commander Fuad Shukr's funeral ceremony. Picture: AFP.

In response, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz issued a threat in a statement posted on X/Twitter: “Hassan Nasrallah, stop the boasting speeches, threats and lies before you pay a heavy price.”

“We will act with full force to restore security to the residents of the north,” he said.

A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that Iranian officials met in Tehran on Wednesday with representatives of the so-called “axis of resistance”, a loose alliance of Tehran-backed groups hostile to Israel, to discuss their next steps.

“Two scenarios were discussed: a simultaneous response from Iran and its allies or a staggered response from each party,” said the source who had been briefed on the meeting.

Analysts said the retaliation would be measured to avoid a wider conflagration.

Iran and the groups it backs “will more than likely try to avert a war, while also strongly deterring Israel from continuing with this new policy, this targeted shock and awe,” said Amal Saad, a Hezbollah researcher and lecturer at Britain’s Cardiff University.

An Iranian woman holds a poster displaying (L to R) late Islamic Jihad secretary-general Fathi Shaqaqi, late Iranian physicist and scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, late Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyah, late Iranian Quds Force chief Qasem Soleimani, late Hezbollah commander Imad Mughnieh and late Hamas spiritual guide Sheikh Ahmed Yassin during Haniyeh’s funeral procession. Picture: AFP.

In Tehran, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, killed on Wednesday on a strike on his Tehran residence, having earlier threatened “harsh punishment” for his killing.

Iran’s conservative parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Iran “will certainly carry out the supreme leader’s order” to avenge Haniyeh. “It is our duty to respond at the right time and in the right place,” he said in a speech with crowds chanting “Death to Israel, Death to America!”

Crowds, including women shrouded in black, carried posters of Haniyeh and Palestinian flags in a procession and ceremony that began at Tehran University, an AFP correspondent reported.

Senior Iranian officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian and Revolutionary Guards chief General Hossein Salami, attended the ceremony, state television images showed.

Qatar-based network Al Jazeera reported said the plane carrying Haniyeh’s body had landed in Doha, where the Palestinian leader is to be buried following prayers at the Qatari capital’s largest mosque.

Hamas called in a statement for a day of protests on Friday. “Let roaring anger marches start from every mosque,” it said.

The leader of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels also vowed a “military response” to Haniyeh’s killing.

“There has to be a military response to these crimes, which are shameless and dangerous, and constitute a major escalation by the Israeli enemy,” Abdul Malik al-Huthi said in a televised speech.