(Tehran) Iran warned Israel and the United States on Tuesday that it would respond to the raid that killed 11 people the day before, including seven Revolutionary Guards in Damascus, an unprecedented operation which increases tensions in the Middle East by full of war in Gaza.
“This cowardly crime will not go unanswered,” said Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi.
He did not give details on the nature of this response, but “necessary decisions” were taken during the night during an emergency meeting of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council in his presence.
Tehran blamed the “Zionist regime” for the raid, but Israel has not confirmed responsibility.
For its part, the United States told Iran that it “was not involved” in the raid that destroyed the building housing the consulate and the residence of the Iranian ambassador in Syria, according to a US official cited by the Axios website.
The United Nations Security Council will hold a public session at Russia’s request on the attack on Tuesday at 3 p.m. New York time (3 p.m. Eastern time), Russian UN representative Dmitry announced. Polianski, quoted by the state agency Tass.
China also condemned the raid, saying that “the security of diplomatic institutions” could not “be violated”.
Iran called on the Security Council to “condemn this terrorist attack perpetrated by the Israeli regime in the strongest possible terms.”
“Message to the Americans”
The head of Iranian diplomacy Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also announced that he had sent “an important message” to the United States, through the charge d’affaires of the Swiss embassy in Iran, which represents American interests in absence of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
This message, the content of which was not disclosed, was sent to the United States which, “as supporters of the Zionist regime”, “must be held responsible”, according to the minister.
The strikes, carried out by “six missiles fired by F-35 fighters” according to Tehran, are the first to target an Iranian diplomatic building in Syria, a country in civil war since 2011 where Iran and its allies support the power of President Bashar al-Assad.
Iraq stressed on Tuesday that this action could bring “more chaos and instability” to the Middle East, as fears grow that the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip will take a regional turn.
Until now, Iran has increased its declarations of support for Hamas and accused Israel of carrying out a “genocide”, but has denied any direct intervention in the conflict.
Two commanders killed
In Damascus, an AFP journalist noted that the consular section of the Iranian embassy had been completely destroyed. The windows of buildings up to 500 meters away were broken and a large number of cars damaged.
“All those inside were killed or injured,” the Syrian Defense Ministry said.
The Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, announced that seven of its members, including two commanders of the Quds Force, Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, had been killed.
The Quds Force is the elite unit of the Guardians which operates outside Iranian borders.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), an NGO based in the United Kingdom, but which has a vast network of sources in the country, reported 11 deaths in total: “eight Iranians, two Syrians and a Lebanese, all combatants, no civilians.”
Many Iranian military officials have been targeted in the past by strikes in Syria, such as General Razi Moussavi, a key commander of the Quds Force, killed in January in a missile strike south of Damascus.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in neighboring Syria against Syrian government positions, pro-Iranian groups, such as Lebanese Hezbollah, and Iranian military targets since the start of the war in that country in 2011.
The strikes have intensified since the start on October 7 of the war between Israel and Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah and Iran. Monday’s raid was the fifth to target Syria in eight days.