Iran says Israel’s assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of the Hamas resistance movement, was a "blatant violation" of international rules and regulations, reiterating Tehran’s inherent right to punish the aggressor.

According to The Iran Project, Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran on July 31, while he was in Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Addressing reporters at his weekly press conference in Tehran on Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani said the assassination was a flagrant breach of the Islamic Republic’s territorial integrity and the political norms of the international community.

“In line with international law, Iran has the right to punish the aggressor. No one has the right to doubt Iran’s legal right to punish the aggressor and create deterrence against the usurping Zionist regime,” he added.

Iran reserves its “decisive and indisputable” right to defend its national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity, he emphasized.

The Iranian spokesperson said the Israeli regime is the root cause of tensions in the region and has so far rejected all efforts at the regional and extra-regional levels to establish stability.

He said the international community must support Iran's punishment of the Israeli regime for regional stability and peace.