Iran blasts the work of ‘criminal enemies’
Twin bomb blasts killed at least 103 people in Iran, ripping through a crowd commemorating Revolutionary Guards general Qasem Soleimani four years after his death in a US strike.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed “evil and criminal enemies” of the country for the attack and vowed a “harsh response.” And while a senior Iranian adviser, Mohammad Jamshidi, suggested on X, formerly Twitter, that the US and Israel were behind the strikes, a US official said it looked “like the kind of thing ISIS has done in the past”.
The two explosions – labelled a “terrorist attack” by state media and regional authorities – came amid high Middle East tensions over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and the killing of a Hamas senior leader in Lebanon.
The unclaimed attacks – which sparked fears of a widening conflict in the region – struck near the Martyrs Cemetery at the Saheb alZaman Mosque in Kerman, Soleimani’s southern hometown, as supporters gathered to mark his killing in a 2020 US drone strike in Baghdad. Official IRNA news agency said the number of dead rose to 103 while state television reported 211 wounded, some in critical condition.
Three paramedics who rushed to the scene after the first explosion were among those killed, said Iran’s Red Crescent.
IRNA said the first explosion took place around 700m from Soleimani’s grave while the other was around 1km away.
President Ebrahim Raisi condemned the “heinous” crime as the Islamic Republic of Iran declared Thursday, local time, a national day of mourning.
Tasnim news agency, quoting what it called informed sources, said “two bags carrying bombs went off” and “the perpetrators … apparently detonated the bombs by remote control”. Online footage showed panicked crowds scrambling to flee as security personnel cordoned off the area.
State television showed bloodied victims lying on the ground and ambulances and rescue personnel racing to help them.
“We were walking towards the cemetery when a car suddenly stopped behind us and a waste bin containing a bomb exploded,” an eyewitness was quoted saying by the ISNA news agency. “We only heard the explosion and saw people falling.”
By nightfall, crowds returned back the Martyrs Cemetery in Kerman chanting: “Death to Israel” and “Death to America”.
In Tehran, thousands gathered at the Grand Mosalla Mosque to pay tribute to Soleimani.
“We condemn today’s bitter terrorist incident … I hope the perpetrators of the crime will be identified and punished for their actions,” Soleimani’s daughter, Zeinab, said. Soleimani headed the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, overseeing military operations across the Middle East.
The blasts were denounced by the European Union, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iraq and Jordan.