Netanyahu vows to ‘harm anyone’ attacking Israel as fears of Iran strike grow

On Thursday, Iranian diplomats said Tehran will soon respond to the Damascus attack, claiming this could have been avoided.

“Had the UN Security Council condemned the Zionist regime’s reprehensible act of aggression on our diplomatic premises in Damascus and subsequently brought to justice its perpetrators, the imperative for Iran to punish this rogue regime might have been obviated,” the Iranian mission to the United Nations said on social media.

The US has communicated to Iran that it was not involved in the Damascus strike, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, told reporters. “We have warned Iran not to use this attack as a pretext to escalate further in the region or to attack US facilities or personnel,” she said.

Tom Cotton, a Republican senator, warned that an Iranian attack on Israel was “imminent” and said: “President Biden needs to warn the Ayatollahs immediately that the United States will back Israel to the hilt and the joint American-Israeli retaliation for any attack will be swift and devastating.”

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, phoned his counterparts in China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Europe to ask them to use their influence to “urge Iran not to escalate”, the State Department said Thursday.

Mr Blinken also spoke with Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, “to reiterate our strong support for Israel against these threats”.

Open warfare between Israel and Iran would be an unprecedented escalation in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Iranian-backed terrorist group in Gaza behind the Oct 7 massacre.