Axios cites U.S. official: The United States had 'no involvement' in [Israel's] attack on Iranian consulate

The Axios website reported, citing a U.S. official, that the United States has informed the Islamic Republic that it had 'no involvement' or prior knowledge of Israel's attack on a diplomatic complex in Syria that resulted in the death of a senior Quds Force commander. A spokesperson for the National Security Council told Axios that the U.S. 'had no involvement in the [Israeli] attack and we were not aware of it beforehand.' According to the report, this senior U.S. official stated that the U.S. communicated this matter directly to [the Iranian government]. Yesterday, Iranian media reported that Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the Islamic Republic's Foreign Minister, summoned a 'diplomatic official' from Switzerland at midnight in response to the Israeli attack on the building housing the Quds commanders near the Iranian embassy in Damascus, sending an important message to the U.S. through him. Axios noted that Israeli intelligence had been tracking Mohammad Reza Zahidi, who was responsible for arming and coordinating with Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed militias in Lebanon and Syria, for a long time. The same media reported that an Israeli official stated that the 'operational window' to 'eliminate him' had only recently opened. Israeli and U.S. officials said that Israel informed the Biden administration a few minutes before its airstrike but did not seek a green light from the U.S. An American official stated that the information received from the Israelis regarding this operation lacked details and reached American parties only when military jets were in the air. For instance, the Israelis did not inform the U.S. that they intended to bomb a building within the Iranian embassy compound. Yesterday, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House spokesperson, also stated that President Joe Biden is aware of reports regarding the Israeli airstrike on the Islamic Republic's consulate in Damascus and that 'the team is reviewing (the reports).' In the Israeli airstrike on the Quds Force commanders' headquarters in the consulate building near the Iranian embassy in Damascus, at least seven of these commanders and affiliated Quds Force personnel were killed. Mohammad Reza Zahidi, a senior commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Syria and Lebanon, Hossein Aminollah, the Chief of Staff of the Quds Force, and Mohammad Hadi Haj Rahimi, 'a close friend and deputy of Zahidi,' were among the key figures whose deaths in the Israeli attacks on April 1st in Damascus have been confirmed. Babak Taghvaei: The Islamic Republic cannot protect its most important commanders, which weakens the morale of its proxies. Menahem Amir: The Islamic Republic dares not respond to the Israeli attack on Monday, just as it has not in the past. The Israeli attack on the Iranian government consulate in Damascus; the IRGC has not reacted, and the United States has remained silent for now. The Security Council will convene at Russia's request; the Islamic Republic says it has made 'appropriate decisions' to respond to the attack. The return of the terms 'revenge' and 'harsh punishment' to the rhetoric of Islamic Republic officials following the deaths of Quds commanders in Syria.