(Reuters) – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Israel “must be punished and will be punished” for attacking the Iranian embassy in Syria.
In a major escalation of Israel’s war with regional adversaries, suspected Israeli warplanes bombed the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital on April 1 in an attack that Iran says killed seven military advisers.
“When they attack the consulate, it is as if they have attacked our territory,” Khamenei said in a speech marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. “The evil regime made a mistake and must be punished and will be punished,” he added.
In an apparent response to Khamenei, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that Israel would respond if Iran attacked Israel from its own territory.
“If Iran attacks from its own territory, Israel will respond and attack in Iran,” Katz said in a post on the social media platform X.
Iran supports groups that have entered the fray across the region since Israel launched its invasion of Gaza following the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas.
Some 33,360 Palestinians have been killed in six months of Israeli bombardment of Gaza. By Israeli counts, the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 killed 1,200 people.
The Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group has had a daily firefight with Israel, while Iraqi groups have fired on U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq and Yemen’s Houthis have targeted ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.