Publish Date: 14 August 2024 - 09:33

TEHRAN, Aug. 14 (MNA) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has decided to postpone his trip to the West Asia region.

According to the reports, Blinken was supposed to fly out on Tuesday night but "won't travel to the region tonight as planned due to the uncertainty about the situation." 

The top US diplomat planned to visit Qatar, Egypt, and occupied Palestine.

It was expected that he would discuss the possible ceasefire agreement on the Gaza Strip as well as Iran’s response to the Israeli regime following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Ismail Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were martyred after their residence was targeted in Tehran on July 31, according to a statement released by the IRGC.

Issuing a statement, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh was "designed and implemented by the Zionist regime and supported by the criminal government of America."

Reacting to the Israeli act of terror, high-ranking Iranian officials vowed to give a proper response to the Zionist regime, with the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei saying, that by assassinating Ismail Haniyeh, the Israeli regime has prepared the ground for harsh punishment for itself.

On Saturday, the political adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani took to X social media platform, formerly Twitter, to write that preparations have been made to severely punish a regime that only understands the language of force.

The sole goal of the Israeli regime in killing the worshipers of the Al-Tabin school in Gaza and assassinating the martyr Ismail Haniyeh in Iran is to seek war and make the ceasefire negotiations fail, Shamkhani wrote.

Preparations for severe punishment of the Israeli regime have been made following the legal, diplomatic, and media processes, he added.

MP/