US on high alert for Iran threat in region after Israeli strike in Syria

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — U.S. Army soldiers fire an 81mm mortar round during a joint patrol with Green Berets in Syria, July 18, 2020. (U.S. Army Photo by Spc. Chris Estrada via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service)

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States is on high alert and preparing for a possible attack by Iran targeting Israeli or American assets in the region in response to Israel's strike on the Iranian embassy in Syria, a U.S. official said on Friday.

"We're definitely at a high state of vigilance," the official said in confirming a CNN report that said an attack could come in the next week.

Suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran's embassy in Damascus on Monday in a strike 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 that seven Iranian military advisers died in the strike, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in its Quds Force, which is an elite foreign espionage and paramilitary arm.

Iran has said it reserves the right "to take a decisive response."

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

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

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Leslie Adler and Rosalba O'Brien)