Iran pledges revenge on Israel following commander deaths

Iran promised vengeance on Tuesday over the purported Israeli strike on its Damascus embassy building that killed two top commanders. Iranian military and political powerhouse the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps lost five military advisers in the strike.

The IRGC announced Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a Quds Force commander and top international spy squad member, was murdered. The anti-Israel, anti-West Axis of Resistance, comprising Iran-backed groups and Arab terrorists, was coordinated by Zahedi. He is the highest-ranking Iranian official killed since the 2020 American bombing on Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Israel has not commented on the attack, but it has before targeted Iranian personnel in Syria, where they support President Bashar al-Assad against a variety of opposition factions.

In a parliamentary committee meeting Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant alluded to the Damascus strike.

Gallant added, “We are currently in a multifront war — we see evidence of this every day, including over the last few days,” according to his office. “We operate everywhere, every day, in order to prevent our enemies from gaining strength and in order to make it clear to anyone who threatens us — all over the Middle East — that the price for such action will be a big one.”

Iran's response has been primarily rhetorical thus far.

“This cowardly crime will not go unanswered,” President Ebrahim Raisi stated, according to state media. Israel “must know that it will never achieve its goals,” he said.

Iran “reserves the right to take countermeasures against the attack and will make a decision as to how to punish the aggressor,” its Foreign Ministry said in a statement. On X, Iranian ambassador Hussein Akbari, whose Damascus home was attacked, said, “We will reciprocate when we want.”