Tehran aims to deliberately prevent the Israeli leadership from achieving its goal of involving Iran in the conflict. This perspective was voiced by retired General Ahmad Gholampour, a former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and a professor at the Higher National Defense University of the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff.
"Israel is mired in the quagmire of hostilities in the Gaza Strip, and in order to extricate itself, it seeks to directly drag Iran into this war," Gholampour stated in comments to Iran's Tasnim News Agency. He believes that the Israeli Air Force's "suicide" strike on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus was precisely intended to involve the Islamic Republic in the conflict.
Gholampour asserts that the Israeli leadership understands that "if Iran enters this war, the approach to it and its justification will change, and Israel will then be able to breathe easier." He advises Iran not to allow Israel to achieve its objectives, suggesting that Iran's response to the strike on the consulate, which he describes as "an open attack on the country's territory," will be "judicious and carefully considered."
The IRGC's public relations office announced on April 1 that seven Iranian military advisers were killed in the Israeli Air Force strike on the Islamic Republic's consulate in Damascus. The victims included IRGC generals Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, along with five officers. Zahedi, who commanded the IRGC's Al-Quds Special Forces units in Lebanon and Syria, was among the casualties.
Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei assured that Iran would make Israel regret the strike, while President Ebrahim Raisi promised that the attack would not go unanswered. Israel has not officially acknowledged responsibility for the incident. Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari told CNN that the strike in Damascus targeted not the consulate but an IRGC military facility.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: mostafa meraji/Unsplash
Based on materials from TASS