Iran reportedly warned the Biden administration that U.S. forces in the region will be attacked if the U.S. gets involved in the fighting between Israel and Iran.

Axios, citing three unnamed U.S. officials, reported that Iranians told several Arab governments that they view the U.S. as responsible for the Israeli attack that killed the top Iranian general in Damascus — Mohammad Reza Zahedi, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon.

The U.S. has tried to distance itself from the strike, Axios noted.

According to Axios, Zahedi was the key Iranian military official in charge of relations with Hezbollah in Lebanon and the pro-Iranian militias in Syria. In the same strike that killed him, five other IRGC officials died, including Zahedi’s deputy, Gen. Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi, the outlet reported. 

Zahedi is the most senior IRGC officer killed since the assassination of Qasem Soleimani in January 2020.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has accused Israel of Zahedi’s assassination, and said Israel will face the consequences, the outlet reported.

Axios noted a shadow war between Iran and Israel has been escalating in recent years —  with Iran’s ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, asserting Israeli fighter jets fired six missiles from the Golan Heights that hit the consulate building.

“The Zionist regime has acted against international laws, which will result in our decisive response,” Akbari told Axios.

Iranian media reported the building was used as the Iranian Embassy’s consular section and the ambassador’s residence.

The bloody strike was the first time Israel has attacked an Iranian diplomatic building, Axios reported.

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