TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian has written a letter to the United Nations Security Council warning that the Zionist regime of Israel “must face the consequences” of assassinating the Iranian military advisors in Syria, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

“This regime must be forced to set aside its destabilizing behavior,” Amir Abdollahian insisted.

The letter by the chief diplomat came after Israel assassinated five Iranian military advisors in Damascus on Saturday, January 20.

In part of his letter, Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian said the Israeli regime’s “illegal resort to force and military provocations will seriously jeopardize peace and security in the region and the world.”

He added, “The Islamic Republic of Iran unequivocally and strongly condemns this heinous and cowardly terrorist act which is done with the purpose of deflecting attention from the crimes of the Zionist regime against the people of Gaza, especially in Gaza.”

The minister said Iran is legally entitled to respond to these crimes.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran, based on international law and the UN Charter, keeps the right to give decisive and proper response to these actions in proper time and place.”

Israel also assassinated a top Iranian military officer in the suburbs of Damascus on December 25. In response to this terrorist attack, Iran fired missiles on the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad spy agency in northern Iraq on January 16.