As the UN Security Council meets to discuss an alleged Israeli strike on an Iranian consulate in Syria that killed at least 13 people, Tehran uses the opportunity to threaten revenge against the Jewish state.
Iran “has exercised considerable restraint, but it is imperative to acknowledge there are limits to such forbearance,” Tehran’s representative tells the Security Council. She adds that “Iran reserves its right” for “a decisive response.”
The representative says seven Iranians were killed, but the final death toll remains unknown with the site reduced to rubble.
While claiming that Iran is not backing attacks on Israel and the US by its proxies, she nonetheless warns that the consulate strike could “spark further conflict involving other countries.”
At the same meeting, Russia accuses Israel of seeking to “fuel” conflict in the Middle East, blaming it for the “unacceptable” strike.
Slamming the “flagrant violation” of Syria’s sovereignty, UN envoy Vasily Nebenzia tells the council that Russia was “of the view that such aggressive actions by Israel are designed to further fuel the conflict. They are absolutely unacceptable and must stop.”
Israel has not officially commented on the attack in Damascus, in which seven members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed. Among them was Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who led the Quds force of the IRGC in Lebanon and Syria, Zahedi’s deputy, Gen. Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi, and at least one member of Hezbollah.
Zahedi was reportedly responsible for the IRGC’s operations in Syria and Lebanon, for Iranian militias there, and for ties with Hezbollah, and thus the most senior commander of Iranian forces in the two countries. The IRGC is a US-designated terrorist organization.