All news

Israel attacks Tehran’s diplomatic mission for first time ever, says Iranian envoy

Hossein Akbari called the Israeli air strike a clear violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, according to which all diplomatic missions have immunity

BEIRUT, April 1. /TASS/. Israel attacked the building housing Tehran’s diplomatic mission for the first in history, blatantly violating the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Iranian Ambassador to Syria Hossein Akbari said.

"The Zionist regime (Israel - TASS) for the first time dared to attack a building where the Islamic Republic’s flag was flying," the government-run IRIB TV channel quoted him as saying. Akbari added that the Israeli airstrike was a clear violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which says that all diplomatic offices have immunity.

According to Iran’s Press TV, the attack killed Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The Tasnim news agency, in turn, reported that Zahedi’s deputy IRGC General Mohammad Hadi Haji-Rahimi had also been killed. Iran’s Mehr news agency specified that Zahedi had served as commander of the IRGC Ground Forces from 2005-2008 and commander of the IRGC Quds Force in Lebanon in Syria from 2008-2016. Zahedi is on the list of those sanctioned by the UN Security Council in 2007 over Tehran’s nuclear program.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported earlier that Israel had carried out an airstrike on a building in Damascus. According to Iran’s SNN TV channel, the attack targeted Iran’s consulate building and the ambassador’s residence. The attack killed five people and left another 12 injured.