TEHRAN- Iran said on Tuesday the number of its soldiers killed in an airstrike in Syria this week had risen to seven and that it would not gounanswered.

Iranian media reported that seven bodies had been flown back to Tehran forburial following Monday’s strike against the T-4 airbaselink> in Homs.

Syria, Russia and Iran have blamed Israel for the attack, which Tehran hadinitially said killed four military advisors.

“The Zionist regime’s attack on Syria will not go unanswered,” said AliAkbar Velayati, foreign policy advisor to supreme leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei, according to the semi-official *ISNA*news agency.

Iran is a key ally of the Syrian government, alongside Russia, and Velayatiwas speaking on arrival in Damascus where he was due to meet with PresidentBashar al-Assad, according to *ISNA*.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif hit back at US PresidentDonald Trump, who has said Russia and Iran share the blame for an allegedchemical attacklink>ina rebel-held town in Syria.

Iran “has consistently condemned use of chemical weapons by anyone (and) isitself the victim of their use by Saddam with US support,” Zarif wrote onTwitter, referring to chemical attacks during Iran’s war with Iraq in the1980s.

Trump’s “threats to repeat impulsive acts of aggression is symptomatic ofUS policy helping extremists,” Zarif added.