White House national security spokesman John Kirby labelled Iranian accusations of US involvement in Monday’s bombing as “nonsense” and cautioned that Washington would react to any retaliatory strikes.
“Let me make it clear. We had nothing to do with the strike in Damascus,” he told a briefing, adding, “We weren’t involved in any way.”
“We always take our force protection very seriously, to protect our troops, our facilities in Iraq and Syria,” Kirby said.
“We will do whatever we need to do to protect those troops.”
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said Israel provided no advance warning of the strike on the Iranian mission in the Syrian capital.
“We were not notified by the Israelis about their strike or the intended target of their strike in Damascus,” Singh a briefing, adding that Iran had been privately told the US was not behind the strike.
Israeli warplanes bombed the Iranian consulate, situated next to the embassy building in Damascus’s Mezzeh district, on Monday afternoon.
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps named Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force, and his deputy General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi were among the seven martyrs of the terrorist attack.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has vowed that Iran will “punish” Israel and make the evil regime “regret” its crime of assassinating the country’s military advisors in Syria.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has also said Israel had resorted to indiscriminate assassinations after back-to-back failures in the face of the resistance, warning that the regime’s latest crime against Iranian military advisers in Syria “will not go unanswered”.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian stated, as the Israeli regime’s biggest supporter, the United States should be “answerable” over the deadly strike.
He said Iran’s Foreign Ministry had summoned the chargé d’affaires of Switzerland, which represents Washington’s interests in Tehran, after the attack.
“During the summoning, the dimensions of the Israeli regime’s terrorist attack and crime were explained, and the American administration’s responsibility underlined,” he stated
“An important message was relayed to the American administration as the Zionist regime’s supporter,” it continued, adding, “The United States should be answerable.”
