DUBAI, April 5. /TASS/. Tehran has already decided how it will retaliate against Israel for its strike on an Iranian consular office in Damascus which killed 13 people, including two generals from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an elite branch of Iran's armed forces, and is just biding its time at this point, Mohsen Rezaee, former IRGC commander (1981-1997) and current head of the Expediency Discernment Council said.
"The decision on revenge was made and it will definitely be implemented. <...> The Iranian people should be confident that this decision will make the Zionist regime (Israel - TASS) regret [the strike]," he told Tasnim at the International Quds Day demonstrations in Tehran. During the celebration, established by the Iranian Republic’s founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini as a sign of solidarity with Palestine, demonstrations attended by thousands were held in 2,000 Iranian cities, chanting slogans such as "Death to Israel" and "Death to the US."
Speaking of the situation in the Gaza Strip, Rezaee stressed that "Israel has been mired in a deep swamp and is resorting to any crime to save itself." In his opinion, "the shameful defeat of the Israeli army, both in defense and in an attempt to liberate its hostages, has seriously undermined it and led to the loss of its reputation."
On April 1, the IRGC Public Relations Department reported the death of seven Iranian military advisers in a strike by the Israeli air force on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital. Two IRGC generals, Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, and five officers were killed in the strike. According to Iran’s IRIB TV channel, Zahedi was in charge of Iran’s Al-Quds special forces in Lebanon and Syria. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Tehran would make Israel repent for the strike, while President Ebrahim Raisi vowed that the attack would not go unanswered. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov branded the strike as an act of aggression.
Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told TASS that it was not commenting on reports by foreign media outlets. That said, IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told CNN earlier in the week that the strike had not targeted Iran’s consulate but an IRGC military facility, which he claimed had only been disguised as a civilian building.