Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh bragged about how safe he was in Tehran, hours before he was assassinated in the Iranian capital, the Telegraph reported.
In a video taken on Tuesday and obtained by MEMRI, Haniyeh told reporters at an exhibition in Tehran, "I am filled with pride to stroll around this exhibition of civilizations. Moving from one country to another, with Jerusalem in the center - Jerusalem, the pivot of our struggle with the Zionist enterprise. These countries and the people of the Islamic nation view Jerusalem as their first direction of prayer and the place of the Prophet's Night Journey."
"The mesage is very clear," he said. "Human civilizations emerged from this region, these nations, and these countries. Today, there is an attempt to create civilizations, but these civilizations are based on killing, bloodshed, the plundering of other nations' resources, and occupying the lands of others. These are false civilizations that are not destined to last. The civilization that will last for eternity is this (Islamic) civilization that is based on the divine Sharia and human values."
In footage obtained from the same interview by the Telegraph, Haniyeh boasted, "Resistance means we are proud to walk the streets of civilized countries and travel from one nation to another."
This would prove to be Haniyeh's last interview, as he was killed in an explosion in his room hours later, after attending the inauguration of Iran's new President, Masoud Pezeshkian.
The New York Times reported that Haniyeh was killed by an explosive device that had been planted in his room two months before he stayed there.