A top Iranian military commander on Saturday reiterated his pledge to retaliate after an Israeli airstrike destroyed the Iranian consulate in Syria earlier this week, killing 12 people, including two elite Iranian generals.
Iran’s joint chief of staff, Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, told mourners gathered at the funeral of Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi that Iran would decide when and how to “act” in retaliation. Zahedi was the most senior commander killed in Monday’s attack.
“The timing, type and planning of the operation will be determined by us and will make Israel regret what it has done,” he said. “This will be done.”
The attack on Iran’s diplomatic compound was a major escalation in a long-standing shadow war between the two old enemies, and Israel has been bracing for an Iranian response.
A total of 12 people were killed in the attack: seven members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, four Syrians and one member of the Hezbollah militia.
Gen. Hossein Salami, commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards, escalated threats against Israel on Friday by warning that “our brave people will punish the Zionist regime.”
Tensions have risen against the backdrop of a six-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and have reignited fears of a wider regional conflict. Hamas, the Islamic militant group that has ruled Gaza for 17 years, is one of Iran’s proxies, along with the Lebanese Hezbollah militia and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Both Hezbollah and the Houthis have launched attacks on the fringes of the war in Gaza, with Hezbollah engaging in daily cross-border exchanges with Israel and the Houthis frequently targeting Red Sea shipping.
Bagheri made the remarks in Zahedi’s hometown of Isfahan, about 440 kilometers (270 miles) south of the capital Tehran.
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