Iran FM accuses US of role in consulate attack

Iran's Foreign Minister on Monday accused the United States of giving Israel the "green light" for a strike on its consulate building in Syria that killed seven Iranian military officials including two generals.

Hossein Amir Abdollahian reiterated Teheran's vows that it would respond to the attack, widely blamed on Israel, that appeared to signify an escalation of Israel's targeting of military officials from Iran.

"I'd like to say with a very loud voice from here in Damascus that America has a responsibility in what happened and must be held responsible," Amir Abdollahian told reporters in Damascus during a visit where he met his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad, who condemned both the strike and Israel's offensive in Gaza.

Amir Abdollahian earlier on that day inaugurated a new site for Iranian consular services in the Syrian capital Damascus, Syrian state media reported, in a building near the previous consulate flattened in a suspected Israeli airstrike last week.

AGENCIES—XINHUA