US on high alert in the Middle East due to Iranian threat after Israeli attack in Syria

The United States is on high alert in the Middle East and is preparing for a possible attack by Iran against Israeli or American assets in the region in response to Israel's attack on the Iranian embassy in Syria, a US official said Friday.

“We are definitely in a high state of surveillance,” the official said, confirming a report that said an attack could occur in the next week.

Suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran's embassy in Damascus on Monday in an attack that killed an Iranian military commander and marked a major escalation in Israel's war with its regional adversaries.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said seven Iranian military advisers were killed in the attack, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in its Quds Force, an elite paramilitary and foreign espionage arm.

Iran has stated that it reserves the right to “give a decisive response.”

US President Joe Biden discussed the threat from Iran in a phone call Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Our teams have been in regular and continuous contact since then. The United States fully supports Israel's defense against threats from Iran,” said a senior Biden administration official.

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