DUBAI, April 2. /TASS/. The United States is directly responsible for the Israeli air force strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus which killed two high-ranking generals from Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), an aide to the country’s spiritual leader said.

"The Zionist regime (Israel - TASS), acting as a US proxy army in the region, committed a foolish act by attacking Iran’s consulate in Damascus. Whether Washington was aware of Israel's intention has no bearing on the US' direct responsibility for this crime and its consequences," Ali Shamkhani, an aide to Iran's spiritual leader Ali Khamenei, wrote on his X page.

On April 1, the Syrian news agency SANA reported that the Israeli air force had struck a building in Damascus. Iranian media reported that the Iranian consulate building in the Syrian capital had been shelled. The IRGC's public relations office reported the deaths of seven military advisers, generals Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, and five officers. According to Iran's state-run IRIB TV channel, Zahedi commanded the IRGC's Al-Quds Special Forces units in Lebanon and Syria. The TV channel reported that in addition to the seven Iranian advisers, six Syrian nationals were killed.