Araz News: Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he would “not be surprised” if Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was assassinated in the country’s upcoming presidential election next month, in an interview published Monday newsweek reported .

In comments made to Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Lieberman appeared to allege that—like the proxy groups that Tehran backs in the Middle East, such as Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip—there are deep internal rivalries in the Iranian regime.

Lieberman, who is one of the most powerful political figures in Israel, was commenting on the murder of top Hamas militant Mazen Faqha near his home in Gaza on March 24. Hamas blamed his death on Israel’s spy agency, Mossad, but Lieberman said the militant group was responsible.

“We can say with certainty that it was an internal killing,” the minister said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if during the Iranian election on May 19, somebody assassinates the president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani.”

He continued: “With my understanding of the system there and the man leading it, this looks like an internal affair. It is characteristic of terrorist organizations.”

The right-wing minister, a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, was referring to Yahya Sinwar: the new hardline leader of Hamas in the coastal enclave elected by the group in February. Lieberman claimed that Sinwar himself killed a Hamas battalion commander in February 2016, pointing to that case as evidence of deadly power plays within the ranks of the Islamist faction.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani gives a press conference in the capital Tehran on April 10, 2017. He is due to run for a second term on May 19.