Iranian leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei vowed Iran's men will "punish" the Israeli occupation following the assassination of senior Iranian Revolution Guard Corps members at the hands of the "usurping and despicable" Israeli occupation.

Sayyed Khamenei issued this message regarding the martyrdom of Major General Mohammad Reza Zahedi along with a number of others following the Israeli aggression on Iran's consulate in Damascus, Syria.

He further affirmed "Our courageous men will exact punishment upon the evil regime. We will ensure they regret this and other crimes, with the will of God."

The evil Zionist regime will be punished by our courageous men.

— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) April 2, 2024

This comes after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi called the Israeli aggression against the Iranian consulate in Syria's Damascus, a "new terrorist crime" and considered it a "violation of international resolutions."

Raisi also stressed that "the Zionists must know that they will not achieve their goals" reaffirming that the "crime of attacking the consulate in Damascus will not go unanswered."

Moreover, Raisi paid tribute to the martyrs, highlighting that "Martyrs Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi were heroes of the Holy Defense," and had been serving in Syria as "senior consultants".

US claims 'no involement' in attack

Earlier, the US informed Iran that it "had no involvement" or prior knowledge of the Israeli strike on April 1 on the Iranian consulate in Syria that killed the IRGC commander in Lebanon and Syria, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a US official revealed in an Axios report.

Speaking with Axios, a National Security Council spokesperson said that the US "had no involvement in the [Israeli] strike and we did not know about it ahead of time."

A senior US official also said that the US "has communicated this directly to Iran."

Israeli and US officials revealed to Axios that a few minutes before "Israel" launched the strike, it informed the Biden administration without asking for a US green light.

Not only did "Israel" not include any details in its heads-up to the US, like sharing that it was going to bomb a building in the Iranian embassy compound, but the Israeli occupation jets were also already in the air when that piece of information was received by the US, according to a US official.

Read more: 'Israel' concerned about embassies' security after Syria attack: Ynet