A senior official in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday threatened to retaliate against any “foolhardy” attack on Syria by the United States or its allies by humiliating the US.

“If the US will do the foolish thing and attack Syria, Iran and Syria’s allies will respond harshly and cause a fiasco for America,” Revolutionary Guard Corps’ deputy chief of culture and propaganda Mahmoud Ali Assoudi said.

The statements were published on an official Iranian government website, but were removed moments thereafter. The BBC’s Persian news service website copied and published the comments before they were taken down.

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Assoudi did not specify how Iran would accomplish its threats, but he said that an international military pact required Iran to retaliate. Reuters reported that Iran and Syria signed a mutual defense pact in 2006. It is not clear whether there are other signatories.

“With cooperation from Qatar, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, America aims to deal a hard blow and topple the Syrian regime” of President Bashar Assad, Assoudi noted.

Assoudi’s comments were consistent with recent statements made by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who charged that the US and Israel have perpetuated the Syrian civil war.