Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian warned that Israel would “be punished” for its air strike in Damascus that killed seven Iranian military officers last week, including two senior commanders.
He spoke in Damascus on Monday as he inaugurated a new site for Iranian consular services in the Syrian capital, Syrian state media reported, in a building near the previous consulate flattened in an Israeli airstrike last week.
Syria’s Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said at the same event that Damascus stood with the “resistance” factions in the region – Iran’s term for its allies in the region who are sworn enemies of Israel – but did not elaborate on whether Syria would respond
Until now, Tehran has avoided directly entering the fray in the Gaza war, while supporting allies’ attacks on Israeli and US targets.
A senior adviser to the Iranian supreme Leader stated on Sunday that Israeli embassies were no longer safe.
Last week, Israel temporarily shut the doors of 28 embassies and consulates for safety reasons.
Us considering 'active' threat from Iran
In Washington, US National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said that the US considered an “active” threat from Iran.
“We know that Iran has made very public threats against Israel itself,” Kirby said as he underscored that Israel could count on the US support for any self-defense needs.
Kirby stressed that US personnel in the country’s embassies also feel threatened.
“Our people, not just our troops, but diplomatic personal personnel as well in Iraq and Syria, are under constant threat. We take that seriously. And we take the appropriate force protection measures we need to as the threat changes, to make sure that they can protect themselves,” Kirby stated.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “We have been concerned about the risk of escalation [from Iran] since October 7.”
The Biden administration has constantly engaged in “diplomacy to try to lower that risk of escalation. We have made clear directly to the Iranian government that it should not use this incident [October 7] as a pretext to attack American troops or American facilities in the region.
“And we will continue to make clear to them that they should not take any escalatory actions,” he stated.
About last week’s strike in Damascus, Miller added, “We would send a loud and clear message to them that they should not escalate. In any event, whether that means inside Israel or elsewhere in the region.”
Miller rejected any reports that Iran had sent a message to the US through Oman, that Iran would not retaliate against Israel if there was a Gaza ceasefire.
“That is not true,” Miller stated.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.