January 4, 2024
Dozens of people
were killed Wednesday in the Iranian city of Kerman after twin blasts near the
burial site of slain military commander Qasem Soleimani, in what officials
called a terror attack.
The blasts, at
least one of which was caused by a bomb, state TV said, came on the fourth
anniversary of Soleimani’s death in a US airstrike, and threaten to accelerate
tensions in the region that have spiked since the start of the Israel-Hamas war
in Gaza.
At least 84
people were killed and 284 others injured, according to state-run news agency
IRNA, citing Jafar Miadfar, head’s of Iran’s national emergency agency. The
toll was revised down due to the miscounting of body parts.
No group has
claimed responsibility for the blasts, the deadliest to hit Iran since the 1979
revolution.
Iran’s President
Ebrahim Raisi blamed Israel for the explosions, saying it will pay a “heavy
price.”
“I warn the
Zionist regime, do not doubt that you will pay a heavy price for this crime and
the crimes you have committed,” Raisi said in a televised speech from Tehran.
Raisi, who is the head of the Iranian government, warned that Israel’s
punishment will be “regrettable and severe.”
The Israeli
military told CNN it had “no comment” on the matter while the US State
Department said it had no reason to believe Israel was involved.
Analysts and a
US official speculated that the blast had the hallmarks of a terrorist attack.
“I think it’s
just based on the MO it does look like a terrorist attack, the type of thing
we’ve seen ISIS do in the past. And as far as we’re aware, that’s kind of I
think our going assumption at the moment,” the official said.
Iran has
suffered major Islamist terror attacks before. In 2022, at least 15 people were
killed and 40 others injured in the southern city of Shiraz. ISIS claimed
responsibility for the attack swiftly afterwards, saying it targeted groups of
“Sunni infidels.”
The first
explosion was 2,300 feet (700 meters) from Soleimani’s grave, and the second
was 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) away as pilgrims visited the site, IRNA reported.
Soleimani was
killed by a US airstrike ordered by former President Donald Trump at Baghdad
International Airport on January 3, 2020.
IRINN, another
state television channel, reported that the first explosion near the grave of
Soleimani was caused by a bomb placed in a suitcase inside a Peugeot 405 car,
and appeared to be detonated remotely.
Iran’s Interior
Minister Ahmad Vahidi said the first explosion happened at 3:00 p.m. local time
(6 a.m. ET) during an interview with Iran’s state news channel IRIB. Vahidi
said the second, more deadly blast took place 20 minutes later, when other
pilgrims came to help the injured.
Videos posted on
Iranian state media showed large crowds running in the area after the
explosion.
Footage also
showed bloodied bodies being transported from the scene, and ambulances leaving
the site through large crowds.
Iran’s Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Iran
will have a “harsh response.” Addressing those behind the explosions, he wrote:
“They should know that the bright soldiers of the path of Soleimani will not tolerate
their wickedness and crimes.”
Iran declared
Thursday a day of mourning following the blasts and Raisi canceled his upcoming
trip to Turkey.
Formerly one of
Iran’s most powerful men, Soleimani was head of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds
Force, an elite unit that handles Iran’s overseas operations and was deemed to
be a foreign terrorist organization by the US.
The Pentagon
says Soleimani and his troops were “responsible for the deaths of hundreds of
American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more.”
Known as Iran’s
“shadow commander,” Soleimani – who had led the Quds Force since 1998 – was the
mastermind of Iranian military operations in Iraq and Syria.
Gen. Ismail
Qaani, Soleimani’s longtime lieutenant and his successor as the leader of the
Quds Force, said the perpetrators were “desperate,” warning that “the Islamic
Republic will not change the method of eradicating the Zionist regime.”
Blast comes at
tense moment in region
The blast
occurred amid heightened tensions in the region as Israel fights a three-month
war against Hamas in Gaza prompted by the militant group’s October 7 attack on
Israel.
That war has
left more than 23,000 people dead in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Ministry
of Health in the enclave, and has led to skirmishes beyond Israel and Gaza,
often involving Iran-backed militias.
On Tuesday, a
senior Hamas leader was killed in a suburb of Beirut in a blast that a US
official told CNN was carried out by Israel. Israel hasn’t confirmed or denied
involvement but Hamas and the militant group Hezbollah, which controls the
suburb, blamed Israel and have vowed revenge.
Last week, Iran
and several of its armed proxies accused Israel of assassinating a senior
Iranian commander in Syria, vowing retaliation. Israel didn’t comment on the
matter.
In an address
marking the anniversary of Soleimani’s death, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah
said the killing of the Hamas official in Beirut “won’t go unpunished.”
Israel accuses
Tehran of funding and arming Hamas. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said
last month that his country is in a “multi-arena war,” being attacked from
seven arenas, including Iran. “We have already responded and acted in six of
these decrees” he said.
On Wednesday,
Russian President Putin condemned “terrorism in all its forms” in a letter to
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi after
the blasts. Putin, who is the subject of an arrest warrant from the
International Criminal Court, has been accused by Kyiv and international bodies
of numerous acts of terror during his war in Ukraine.
Both the
European Union and the United Nations chief Antonio Guterres also condemned
Wednesday’s blasts and called for the perpetrators to be held responsible.
The US has also
stepped up its military involvement in the Middle East recently. Last month,
the military carried out airstrikes on Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah and
“affiliated groups” in Iraq after an attack injured three US troops.
And last week,
US helicopters sank three boats belonging to Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the
Red Sea after coming under fire, killing those on board. The event marked the
first time since tensions broke out earlier last year that the US killed
members of the rebel group.
The White House
said it wasn’t seeking a wider conflict. The Houthis have carried out several
attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea in retaliation for Israel’s assault
on Hamas, disrupting trade in one of the world’s most important waterways.
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