Iran watched for signals of threatened attack on Israel

Since then, every sign, speech, or statement from Iran has been closely watched for an indication of how and when it might respond, amid concerns the retaliation could lead to a wider conflict with Israel.

But Mr Kani offered no clues and, with apparent limited intelligence by the West, it remains unclear what Iran could be planning to do.

In April, a strike on the Iranian diplomatic compound the Syrian capital, Damascus, killed eight IRGC officers, another attack believed to have been carried out by Israel – and another embarrassing setback for Iran.

After days of telegraphing its intentions, Iran launched more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel; almost all of them were intercepted by Israel and a US-led coalition, and the retaliation had no significant impact.

Last week, American officials suggested that this time, Iran might have been preparing a bigger operation, perhaps in attempt to avoid repeating that failure.

Recent media reports, however, suggest that details of how Haniyeh’s killing was carried out – possibly from inside Iran with local assistance instead of a precise air strike from outside – combined with the fact that no Iranians were killed and diplomatic efforts from Western and Arab countries, might have forced Tehran to reconsider its plans.

The Jordanian foreign minister made a rare visit to Iran earlier this week and, on Wednesday, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, spoke to Mr Pezeshkian and, according to the French presidency, urged him to “do everything to avoid a new military escalation”.

Meanwhile, there is also the wait for another expected attack on Israel, from Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia and political movement in Lebanon.

The group has vowed to respond to the killing by Israel of senior commander Fuad Shukr, which happened just hours before Haniyeh’s assassination, in its stronghold of Dahiya, in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Concerns of a major conflict in Lebanon are at their highest since Hezbollah stepped up its strikes against Israel, a day after the Hamas attacks on 7 October.

Most of the violence has been contained to areas along the Lebanon-Israel border, with both Hezbollah and Israel still indicating they are not interested in an all-out war.

So far, the group has mainly targeted Israeli military facilities, although its attacks are increasingly more sophisticated and hitting positions deeper inside the country.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who has promised a “strong” and “effective” response, described Shukr as one of the “strategic minds of the resistance” and said they had spoken on the phone an hour before his assassination.