DoS imposes travel restrictions on employees in Israel following Iranian threats

Shafaq News / The US State Department (DoS) has imposed travel restrictions on its employees in Israel following public threats against Israel by Iran, after the bombing of the Iranian consulate in Syria and the killing of seven members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC).

The US Embassy issued a security warning, "Out of extreme caution, US government employees and their family members are prohibited from traveling outside Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Beersheba areas until further notice."

The warning noted that "the security environment remains complex and could change rapidly depending on the political situation and recent events."

DoS spokesperson Matthew Miller stated, "I will not speak to the specific assessments that led us to restrict personal travel for our employees and their families, but it is clear that we are monitoring threats in the Middle East and specifically in Israel."

Miller added, "We have seen Iran making public threats against Israel in the past few days, and we are monitoring the security situation. We have seen some adjustments to travel warnings at the beginning of this conflict and we are constantly assessing the situation."

Noteworthy, Israel launched what could be considered its "strongest" strike against Iran in months by targeting the Iranian consulate building in Damascus with six missiles fired by F-35 fighter jets.

The attack resulted in the killing of Brig-Gen Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a leader in the IRGC’s Quds Force IRGC, along with his deputy and five others.

According to official Iranian reports, this strike is not the first of its kind. "The Israeli military, along with its American ally, has previously targeted numerous Iranian targets in Syria and Iraq, assassinating several individuals."

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi vowed, on Tuesday, that the recent airstrikes targeting the Iranian embassy in Damascus "will not pass without a response."

"Having failed to destroy the will of the resistance front, the Zionist regime (Israel) has put blind assassinations back on its agenda to save itself. It must know that it will never achieve its goals and that this cowardly crime will not go unanswered," Raisi said.

In turn, the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened to "punish" Israel for targeting the Iranian embassy.

Khamenei stated, "The Zionists will regret their crime after the aggression on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, and our men will punish them."

Notably, Israel has conducted previous attacks against Iran's interests and proxies, even before the outbreak of the October 7 war, citing concerns that Iran and its proxies might utilize Syria as "a base for aggression" against it.