Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has vowed revenge after a suspected Israeli air strike killed a top Iranian general in Tehran’s embassy in Syria.

At least seven people were killed in the strike on the Damascus consulate, including Gen Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), believed to be in charge of Iran’s operations in Syria and Lebanon.

Also killed were Zahedi’s deputy and five other officers. Zahedi is the most senior IRGC officer killed since the United States assassinated Qassem Soleimani, head of the powerful Quds Force, in January 2020.

“The evil regime will be punished by the hands of our brave warriors,” Khamenei said, according to Iranian state media. “We will make them regret this crime and the like by God’s grace.”

Ebrahim Raisi, the Iranian president, also pledged “this crime won’t go unanswered”, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.

“The ignorant leaders of the usurping Israeli regime and their advocates had better realise that such vicious acts will not impact the willpower of resistance fighters who are seeking freedom,” said Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, according to state media.

“Their aggressive and malicious moves will be met with severe punishment.”