US: Statements by the Iranian Foreign Minister Regarding 'US Involvement' in the Attack on the Iranian Consulate are 'Nonsense'

On Tuesday, the White House responded to the Iranian Foreign Minister's claim that the US is responsible for the attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus and should be held accountable, stating that this claim is nonsense. John Kirby, the White House National Security Advisor, said at a press conference regarding whether the US anticipates a response from Iran: 'I cannot predict what the leader and the Revolutionary Guards will decide regarding retaliation against us or not. Let me be clear, we had no connection to the attack in Damascus; we were not involved in any way.' He continued, 'As always, we will take the protection of our forces and facilities in Iraq and Syria very seriously. As we have shown in the past, and as the President of the United States has made very clear and acted upon, we will do what is necessary to protect our forces and facilities.' Earlier, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council had told the Persian section of Voice of America in response to a written question that 'the United States had no involvement in this attack and we were not aware of it beforehand.' Additionally, a senior US official told us that the US has directly informed Iran about this issue. On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stated on X that 'the Swiss embassy official, as the protector of US interests in Iran, was summoned early this morning by the US Director General to the Foreign Ministry.' He continued, 'In this summons, the dimensions of the terrorist attack and the crime of Israel were explained, and the responsibility of the US government was emphasized. An important message was sent to the US government as a supporter of Israel. The US must be held accountable.' Today, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a press conference in Paris, responded to the attack on the Iranian consulate that resulted in the deaths of several Quds Force commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, saying, 'We are working to clarify the facts. We are closely monitoring what has happened and will continue to do so until we reach the details. We are trying to prevent conflict, especially between Israel and Lebanon, a conflict that neither the Israelis, nor Hezbollah, nor Lebanon, nor Iran are seeking.' In this context, Israel, which generally neither confirms nor denies such attacks, announced today that 'Israel is responding to threats against itself.' Yoav Gallant, the country's Defense Minister, said, 'Every day we are gaining more evidence that shows we are engaged in a multi-front war. Our actions are both offensive and defensive. We see this evidence every day, including in the past few days. We act everywhere and every day to prevent our enemies from gaining strength and to make it clear to anyone acting against us – throughout the Middle East – that the cost of acting against Israel will be heavy.' In the early hours of the attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on Monday, Hossein Akbari, the Iranian ambassador to Syria, acknowledged that several 'Iranian military advisors' were killed in this attack attributed to Israel. In the rhetoric of the Islamic Republic, commanders and members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria and other regional countries are referred to as military advisors. The Public Relations of the Revolutionary Guards also confirmed yesterday the deaths of Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haj Rahimi and 'five of their companions.' Farhad Poladi was born in Tehran in October 1972. After eight years of teaching English at the Iran Language Institute, he became a reporter for IRNA in 1998. Since 2003, he has been a reporter for the French news agency in Tehran. His reporting assignments have provided opportunities to travel to Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Istanbul, Moscow, and Almaty.