New Delhi:
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has recounted a sequence of events that placed him in close proximity to one of the Middle East’s most high-profile assassinations in recent years — the killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Speaking at a book launch, Gadkari described how he encountered Haniyeh only hours before the Hamas leader was assassinated in a heavily guarded military complex in the Iranian capital.
Gadkari said he had travelled to Iran at the request of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who asked him to represent India at the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s newly elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian. Ahead of the ceremony, Gadkari said, he was present at a five-star hotel in Tehran where heads of state and senior dignitaries from multiple countries had gathered informally over tea and coffee.
“All the heads of various nations were present, but one person who wasn’t a head of state was Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. I met him. I saw him going to the swearing-in ceremony along with the President and the Chief Justice,” Gadkari said.
“After the swearing-in ceremony, I returned to my hotel, but around 4 am, the Iranian ambassador to India came to me and said we had to leave. I asked what happened, and he told me that the Hamas chief had been assassinated. I was shocked and asked how it
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