# The Damascus consulate strike

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "The Damascus consulate strike," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/damascus-consulate-strike/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The April 2024 Israeli attack on Iran's consulate in Damascus, which John Kiriakou describes as an unambiguous violation of the Vienna Convention, and whose official Israeli explanation — that it had not occurred to anyone the world would read it as a provocation — he calls disingenuous and intended purely for domestic audiences.*

- **What was struck:** Iran''s consulate in Damascus
- **Legal character:** A military violation of the Vienna Convention
- **The Israeli explanation:** That it had not occurred to them it would be read as a provocation
- **Kiriakou''s reaction:** 'What planet do you live on?'
- **His reading of it:** 'That was for domestic consumption — we should just ignore it'
- **What followed:** [Iran''s April 2024 retaliation](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-2024-drone-retaliation)

In April 2024 an Israeli strike destroyed [Iran](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-nuclear-assessment)'s consulate in Damascus. [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/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."*[1][2]

## 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](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/houthis), they're funding and probably arming [Hamas](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/hamas), they're arming and financing [Hezbollah](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/hezbollah) in Lebanon."*[2][3]

## See also

- [Iran's 2024 drone retaliation](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-2024-drone-retaliation)
- [Iran Nuclear Assessment](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-nuclear-assessment)
- [Israel-United States relations](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/israel-united-states-relations)
- [Hezbollah](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/hezbollah)
- [Hamas](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/hamas)
- [Houthis](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/houthis)

## Sources

1. Iran-Israel Possible Open War (2024-04-18), at 07:59. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXpQfO_oTsQ&t=479s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-04-18-dr-david-oualaalou-iran-israel-possible-open-war/
2. Iran-Israel Possible Open War (2024-04-18), at 08:30. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXpQfO_oTsQ&t=510s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-04-18-dr-david-oualaalou-iran-israel-possible-open-war/
3. Iran-Israel Possible Open War (2024-04-18), at 09:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXpQfO_oTsQ&t=543s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-04-18-dr-david-oualaalou-iran-israel-possible-open-war/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/damascus-consulate-strike/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt