The Damascus consulate strike
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In April 2024 an Israeli strike destroyed Iran''s consulate in Damascus. John Kiriakou''s objection was less to the attack than to the account given of it afterwards.

"I was stunned by the Israeli government''s very disingenuous statement yesterday, that it never occurred to them that the rest of the world would consider an attack on the Iranian consulate as a provocation. Like, what planet do you live on? If a military violation of the Vienna Convention is not seen as a provocation ..." His conclusion was that the statement was not addressed to the rest of the world at all: "that was for domestic consumption. We should just ignore it."

The purpose he assigns to the provocations

Kiriakou places the strike in a pattern with a specific objective. "The Israelis have tried repeatedly to pull the Iranians into this war, because they know that if the Iranians go to war with Israel the United States will have to go to war on Israel''s side. And the Iranians just have not taken the bait." He credits Tehran with "great restraint ... really since last October," while noting what it does do: "certainly they are arming the Houthis, they''re funding and probably arming Hamas, they''re arming and financing Hezbollah in Lebanon."

See also

- Iran's 2024 drone retaliation
- Iran Nuclear Assessment
- Israel-United States relations
- Hezbollah
- Hamas
- Houthis
