DUBAI, April 6. /TASS/. Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri has said Tehran will choose the best time to inflict the most damage to Israel in retaliation for a strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

He made the statement at the funeral of Mohammed Reza Zahedi, a general at the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that was killed in the attack.

"The attack on Iran's consulate in Syria was caused by the Zionist regime's (Israel's - TASS) desperation," the IRNA news agency quoted him as saying. "We will make sure to take revenge."

Bagheri said Iran "will determine the plan <...> for the operation on its own and execute it at the appropriate time with the most possible damage to the enemy." He also said the US should be held responsible for the strike on the consulate, stating it is obvious that Washington was involved in the Jewish state's actions.

On April 1, the Syrian news agency SANA reported that the Israeli Air Force struck a building in Damascus. Iranian news media said the building was the Iranian consulate. The IRGC public relations office reported that seven military advisers were killed: generals Mohammed Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, along with five other officers. According to the Iranian government-owned television channel IRIB, Zahedi commanded Quds forces in Lebanon and Syria.

Russia strongly condemned the Israeli attack on the consulate and requested a UN Security Council meeting on the issue. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi vowed that the strike on the diplomatic mission would not go unanswered. Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said the strike hit a military building of Quds forces, a unit of the Revolutionary Guard Corps. The building was disguised as a civilian structure, he said.