Will Haniyeh be the price for Iran's nuclear program?

Iran is facing great embarrassment after the Zionist entity assassinated the head of the political bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, on its territory, and its inability to protect him as a political guest who came to attend the inauguration of its new president. What also doubles its embarrassment is the way in which the Israeli entity carried out the assassination and the breach that occurred, which reveals a major flaw and fragility in the Iranian system, especially the security and intelligence systems.

Tehran is still, until this moment, trapped in its helplessness in the face of the strong slap it received with the assassination of Haniyeh on its territory, and has not been able to deal with the event in a manner consistent with its bravado and parades that it has always brandished through the speeches of its political and military leaders.

Iran has resorted to issuing threats and promising that it will impose the harshest sanctions on Israel, but the question here is what can Iran do to restore its dignity after Israel has wiped out its dignity and killed its guest?!

In fact, even if Tehran tried to respond to Israel by launching strikes, would the targets be as large as Ismail Haniyeh? Iran, which was previously unable to respond to the killing of the commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in early 2020 in an American raid, what will it do this time, while it still feels embarrassed by its inability to address that issue?!

Iran will find in the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh on its territory a valuable opportunity to win some files with the Americans, most notably returning to the nuclear agreement and lifting a package of economic sanctions on it, while America will exploit Iranian statements and threats to strengthen its presence in the region. Last Thursday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the arrival of F-22 Raptor aircraft to the region as part of its reinforcements to confront what it described as threats from Iran and the groups supported by it. The United States of America has previously strengthened its military presence in the region, especially in the Red Sea, under the pretext of protecting maritime navigation and confronting Houthi strikes.

It seems that things are moving through secret moves between the two sides (American and Iranian) to undeclared understandings that allow the Iranians, with their arms and tools in the region, to carry out hostile activities against the Israeli entity according to agreed upon rules of engagement, while Iran will continue to claim heroism in supporting Gaza and continue to exploit the Palestinian cause and present itself as the sole regional bearer of the cause with American blessing and Arab inaction that has allowed it this overwhelming presence on the scene.