Ayatollah Khamenei made the announcement in a message issued on Tuesday, a day after Israeli airstrikes destroyed Iran's consulate building in Damascus and killed seven military advisors of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
The Leader said Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force, and his deputy General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, were martyred in this crime perpetrated by the “usurping and despicable” Zionist regime.
“The evil regime will be punished by our brave men. We will make them regret this crime and other ones, by God's will,” the Leader added, noting that Iranians are contending with the heavy grief of the IRGC advisors’ martyrdom.
The Leader wished divine mercy for the victims of the terrorist attack, and censured the leaders of the “oppressive and aggressive” Israeli regime.
Israeli warplanes bombed the Iranian consulate, situated next to the embassy building in Damascus’s Mezzeh district, on Monday afternoon.
Iranian officials have vowed a firm response to the Israeli crime that violated all international obligations and conventions.
President Raeisi: Israel’s heinous crime will not go unanswered
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi (By IRNA)
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi says Israel has 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.”
Raeisi made the remarks in a statement released on Tuesday, a day after Israeli airstrikes destroyed Iran's consulate building in Damascus and killed seven military advisors of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
He condemned Israel’s “inhumane invasion” as a “flagrant violation of international regulations” and extended condolences to the Iranian nation over the martyrdom of the IRGC advisors.
The usurping Zionist regime, he added, has committed another “terrorist crime” and stained its “dirty hands” with the blood of several Iranian generals and officers.
"After repeated defeats and failures in the face of the faith and will of the Resistance Front fighters, the Zionist regime has put indiscriminate assassinations on its agenda in the struggle to save itself, but it should know that it will never achieve it sinister goals with such inhumane actions,” the Iranian chief executive said.
“Day by day, Israel will witness the strengthening of the resistance front and the disgust and hatred of free nations towards its own illegitimate nature. This cowardly crime will not go unanswered."
UN Security Council to hold emergency meeting on Israeli strike on Iran’s Syria consulate
The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting following a deadly Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital of Damascus.
On Monday night, Raeisi presided over the meeting of the Supreme National Security Council after the Israeli attack.
“Due to another war crime by the Israeli regime against places and people with diplomatic immunity and the martyrdom of Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the Supreme National Security Council held a meeting in the presence of the president as the head of this council last night at 21:00 and appropriate decisions were made,” the SNSC said in a statement.
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 as among the martyrs of the terrorist attack.
Iranian officials have vowed a firm response to the Israeli crime that violated all international obligations and conventions.