Iran’s supreme leader prays over coffin of Hamas leader

Iranian workers install a huge banner on a wall showing a portrait of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (Vahid Salemi/AP)

Iran’s supreme leader and representatives of Palestinian militias he backs prayed on Thursday over the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard who were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel that risked escalating into an all-out regional war.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prayed over Mr Haniyeh’s coffin at Tehran University while Iran’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian stood next to him. State television later showed the coffins placed in a truck and moved on the street toward Azadi Square in Tehran and people throwing flowers at them.