Iran has vowed to retaliate against Israel and the US in response to the airstrike in Syria, which killed a group of Tehran’s senior commanders.
The Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed that seven officers, including brigadier generals Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, were killed in the airstrike on the Iranian consulate building in Damascus on Monday. Zahedi was a senior commander with the Quds Force – the IRGC unit tasked with operations overseas – and Rahimi was his deputy.
Officials in Syria and Iran have blamed Israel for the attack. “The Islamic Republic of Iran, while reserving its rights to take countermeasures, decides on the type of reaction and punishment of the aggressor,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a statement quoted by news agency IRNA.
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned on X (formerly Twitter) that Israel’s close ally the US “must be held accountable.”