By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is on high alert and preparing for a possible attack by Iran against Israeli or American assets in the region in response to Israel’s attack on the Iranian embassy in Syria, a U.S. official said on Friday .
“We are definitely at a high state of vigilance,” the official said, confirming a CNN report that an attack could occur in the next week.
Suspected Israeli warplanes bombed the Iranian embassy in Damascus on Monday in an attack that killed an Iranian military commander and marked a serious escalation in Israel’s war with its regional adversaries.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said seven Iranian military advisers died in the attack, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander of its Quds Force, which is an elite paramilitary and foreign espionage arm.
Iran said it reserves the right “to give a decisive response.”
US President Joe Biden discussed the Iranian threat in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.
“Our teams have been in regular and continuous contact since then. The United States fully supports Israel’s defense against threats from Iran,” a senior Biden administration official said.