Iran has vowed to respond to what it said was an Israeli strike on Monday that destroyed an Iranian consulate building in Syria’s capital, Damascus.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel would “regret this crime”, while President Ebrahim Raisi insisted that it would “not go unanswered”.

Iranian state TV reported that seven Revolutionary Guards, including two generals, and six Syrians were killed.

The Israeli military said it did not comment on foreign media reports.

But an unnamed senior Israeli government official told Reuters news agency that those killed had “been behind many attacks on Israeli and American assets and had plans for additional attacks”. They also insisted that the embassy “was not a target”.

The New York Times also cited four Israeli officials as confirming that Israel had carried out the strike but denying the building had diplomatic status.

Israel has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of strikes in recent years on targets in Syria that it says are linked to Iran and allied armed groups which are armed, funded and trained by the Revolutionary Guards.

The strikes have reportedly been stepped up since the start of the war in Gaza in October last year, in response to cross-border attacks on northern Israel by Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups in Lebanon and Syria.

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