UNITED NATIONS, April 4. /TASS/. The United States and the United Kingdom have refused to discuss a statement by the UN Security Council on Israel’s strike targeting the Iranian consulate in Syria, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said.

"Following the April 2 session of the UN Security Council about Israel’s attack on the consular department of the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, Russia prepared a draft UN Security Council media statement with a standard text for such cases. Nevertheless, the United States and the United Kingdom were reluctant to even discuss it, citing lack of unified approach to the incident during the session," the Russian diplomat wrote on Telegram.

Polyansky went on to say that during Tuesday’s session, Washington and London, together with their French colleagues "stopped short of condemning this blatant violation of the international law" and instead "engaged in verbal acrobatics leading to the conclusion that it was Iran’s own fault."

"This is an excellent show of the Western trio’s double standards, and its true - not declarative - attitude to law and order in the international context," he added.

On April 1, the Syrian news agency SANA reported that Israel’s Air Force had conducted a strike on a building in Damascus. Iranian media outlets said that Iran’s consulate was the target of that attack. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement that the strike had killed seven military advisors, including General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and General Mohammad Hadi Haji-Rahimi. According to Iran’s government-run IRIB TV channel, Zahedi commanded the IRGC’s Al-Quds Force units in Lebanon and Syria.

Russia strongly condemned Israel’s strike on the consulate and requested a meeting of the United Nations Security Council. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed that Tehran would make Israel regret its strike and President Ebrahim Raisi pledged that the attack would not go without response. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that Israel had hit a military target belonging to the IRGC, but not a diplomatic mission. According to Hagari, the facility was disguised as a civilian building.