The Security Council fails to condemn the attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus

The attack targeted the Iranian Consulate building adjacent to the Iranian (French) Embassy complex.

The United States, Britain and France on Wednesday blocked a Russian-drafted statement in the UN Security Council that would have condemned the attack on the Iranian embassy compound in Syria, for which Tehran accuses Israel of being responsible.

Press statements issued by the 15-member council must be approved unanimously, and diplomats said that the United States, with the support of France and Britain, informed the rest of the council that many facts about what happened on Monday in Damascus remain unclear, and there was no consensus. Among council members during a meeting held on Tuesday.

“This serves as a striking example of the double standards used by the Western Troika and its approach to adhering to law and order in the international context,” Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s deputy delegate to the United Nations, said in a post on the X platform.

The United Nations Security Council has issued statements in the past condemning attacks on diplomatic headquarters, and the European Union on Wednesday condemned the attack and said that the immunity of diplomatic and consular buildings and figures must be respected.

The United States says it is not sure about the status of the building that was bombed in Damascus, but it would be concerned if it was a diplomatic facility.

Israel did not claim responsibility for the attack, which destroyed a consular building adjacent to the main embassy complex, and led to the death of 13 people, including two Iranian officers and five military advisors in the Revolutionary Guard.

Following the attack on its consulate, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Chargé d'Affairs of the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, considering it a sponsor of American interests in Iran, in order to send a message to the American administration, but the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not clarify the content of the message sent to the American administration.

Since last October 7, Israel has repeatedly targeted Iranian military leaders and advisors, leading to the killing of at least 11 Iranian military leaders and advisors, in addition to targeting fighters in the Lebanese Hezbollah, the air defenses of the Syrian army, and some other Syrian forces.

Source: Reuters