TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran on Tuesday vowed to respond to an airstrike widely attributed to Israel that destroyed Iran's Consulate in the Syrian capital of Damascus the previous day and killed 12 people, including two Iranian generals and a member of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group.
Four Syrian citizens were also killed in the strike, a Syrian official said Tuesday, without providing any details about them. Hezbollah, which has been a key ally of both Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and Iran, also pledged "punishment and revenge" on Israel.
Iran's deputy U.N. ambassador Zahra Ershadi told a contentious emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that some Iranians were injured, but "the final and accurate death toll remains uncertain as the entire diplomatic premises has been destroyed with individuals trapped under the rubble."
Israel, which has repeatedly targeted Iranian officers in Syria and in Lebanon, did not confirm Monday's attack.
Iran provides money and weapons to Hezbollah, as well as Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups fighting Israel in Gaza. Clashes between Israel and Hezbollah along the Israeli-Lebanese border have increased since the war in Gaza began nearly six months ago.
Iran's Supreme National Security Council, a key decision-making body, met late on Monday and decided on a "required" response to the strike, Iran's state television reported. It said the meeting was chaired by President Ebrahim Raisi but provided no further details.
"We will make them regretful about the crime and similar acts," said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters in Iran.
The U.S. National Security Council said the United States played no role in the strike in Damascus and did not know of it ahead of time. "We have communicated this directly to Iran," U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Robert Wood, told the U.N. Security Council, saying the U.S. "cannot confirm any information about this event."
Ershadi accused Israel of threatening regional and international peace and declared that "the United States is responsible for all crimes committed by the Israeli regime."
She said Iran has exercised "considerable restraint" but Israel must now bear "full responsibility" for the consequences of the attack. Iran reserves its rights under international law and the U.N. Charter "to take decisive response to such reprehensible acts."
The U.S.' Wood urged Iran and its proxies and partners in the region -- Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis -- to de-escalate tensions, and he repeated prior American warnings to them not to take advantage of the situation "to resume their attacks on U.S. personnel."
Virtually all council members expressed concern that the Damascus attack, coupled with the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, could spill over into the entire Mideast region, and beyond.
Later Tuesday, Assad expressed his condolences in a telephone call with Raisi and condemned Israel, Syrian state news agency SANA reported.
The airstrike killed Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who led the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria until 2016, his deputy, Gen Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi, and five other officers. A member of Hezbollah, Hussein Youssef, also was killed in the attack.
Syrian Health Minister Hassan al-Ghabash said that along with the four Syrian nationals killed, 13 others were seriously wounded in the airstrike. He also did not disclose any information about the wounded.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group, said the Syrians were members of pro-Iran militias but didn't elaborate.
Information for this article was contributed by Samy Magdy, Ellen Knickmeyer, Tara Copp and Edith M. Lederer of The Associated Press.
An Iranian protester holds a poster of the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone attack in 2020, as two others hold the symbolic mock bodies of the Palestinian children during their anti-Israeli gathering to condemn killing members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Syria, at the Felestin (Palestine) Sq. in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, April 1, 2024. An Israeli airstrike that demolished Iran's consulate in Syria killed two Iranian generals and five officers, Syrian and Iranian officials said Monday. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Iranian protesters wave Iranian and Palestinian flags as one of them holds up a poster of the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone attack in 2020, during their anti-Israeli gathering to condemn killing members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Syria, at the Felestin (Palestine) Sq. in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, April 1, 2024. An Israeli airstrike that demolished Iran's consulate in Syria killed two Iranian generals and five officers, Syrian and Iranian officials said Monday. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Emergency services work at a destroyed building hit by an air strike in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April 1, 2024. An Israeli airstrike has destroyed the consular section of Iran's embassy in Damascus, killing or wounding everyone inside, Syrian state media said Monday. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Emergency services work at a building hit by an air strike in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April 1, 2024. An Israeli airstrike that demolished Iran's consulate in Damascus Monday killed two Iranian generals and five officers, Syrian and Iranian officials said Monday. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
In this photo released by the official Syrian state news agency SANA, emergency service workers clear the rubble at a destroyed building struck by Israeli jets in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April 1, 2024. An Israeli airstrike has destroyed the consular section of Iran's embassy in Syria, killing a senior Iranian military adviser and roughly a handful of other people, Syrian state media said Monday. (SANA via AP)
Iranian protesters chant slogans as they hold up posters of the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone attack in 2020, during their anti-Israeli gathering to condemn killing members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Syria, at the Felestin (Palestine) Sq. in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, April 1, 2024. An Israeli airstrike that demolished Iran's consulate in Syria killed two Iranian generals and five officers, Syrian and Iranian officials said Monday. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Iranian protesters burn representations of the U.S. and Israeli flags during their gathering to condemn killing members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Syria, at the Felestin (Palestine) Sq. in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, April 1, 2024. An Israeli airstrike that demolished Iran's consulate in Syria killed two Iranian generals and five officers, Syrian and Iranian officials said Monday. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)