TEHRAN: Iran has threatened to target US forces in the Middle East if Washington helps Israel defend itself against any retaliatory Iranian action after its deadly airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria.
According to The Intercept’s report, “Iran conveyed to the Biden administration on Monday night that if it involved itself in defending Israel were Tehran to undertake a retaliatory strike, it would consider the United States a potential target as well.”
Israel targeted Iran’s consulate building in Damascus on April 1, killing seven IRGC forces, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the highest-ranking commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Force (IRGC-QF) in Lebanon and Syria. Since then, senior Iranian officials have vowed revenge against Israel.
The US National Security Council held a meeting on Tuesday to discuss Tehran’s threats, The Intercept reported which claims to have studies notes of the meeting.
US officials have time and again stressed that Washington had no part in Israel’s strike on Iran’s consulate and seeks no further escalations in the region. However, US President Joe Biden has vowed Washington’s “ironclad” support for Israel in the case of Iran’s reprisals. “We’re going to do all we can to protect Israel’s security,” he stressed on Wednesday.
On Monday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian claimed that the US had given Israel the green light to strike Iran’s consulate in Damascus.
Amir-Abdollahian said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “would not have been able to do such a thing without the US green light.”
