Iran’s mission to the UN has written a letter to the Security Council to express its grave concern and strongly condemn attacks on its embassy in Syria on Sunday after the fall of al-Assad.

The Iranian mission wrote: “Amid an escalation of armed groups in Damascus, militants forcibly stormed and assaulted Iran’s embassy, resulting in severe damage, vandalism, theft of archives and documents, and destruction of windows, doors, and furniture.”

It said, similarly on November 29, “armed groups targeted the Iranian consulate in Aleppo with short-range shells, endangering consular staff”. The consulate was subsequently “invaded and damaged” after the mission had to be evacuated.

Tehran urged the UN chief and the UNSC to condemn what it called violations of the Vienna Convention that protects diplomatic missions.