ISIS claims blasts that killed dozens at Suleimani memorial
▶ Tension in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the Red Sea sparks fear of regional war, write Sinan Mahmoud and Mohamad Ali Harisi
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the blasts near the grave of Iranian military commander Qassem Suleimani in central Iran on Wednesday, which killed at least 84 people.
The extremist group said it was behind the attack in the city of Kerman in a statement released by Amaq news agency, which is affiliated with ISIS.
More than 280 people were injured by the back-to-back blasts about 700 metres from the Saheb Al Zaman Mosque, where the former leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force is buried
Two suicide bombers detonated explosives while crowds gathered were at the tomb, claimed ISIS.
The group said Suleimani, who took part in campaigns to remove ISIS, “was involved in dozens of massacres of Muslims
in Iraq and Syria”. The statement featured a photo of masked fighters in front of the group’s flag.
ISIS said the attack “dealt a strong security blow to the Iranian government … at a time when several parties are trying to promote the Iranian project in the region”.
On Thursday, Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said the death toll stood at 84 – down from earlier reports of more than 100 – with 284 injured. However, the number could change as several of the injured were in critical condition, Iran’s Tasnim news agency quoted him as saying.
Supporters of Suleimani had gathered to commemorate four years since he was assassinated by the US in Baghdad on January 3, 2020.
The IRGC described the attacks as a cowardly act “aimed at creating insecurity and seeking revenge against the nation’s deep love and devotion to the Islamic Republic”.
The Guards commander in Kerman denied state media reports of a shooting in Kerman on Thursday.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said those responsible “will be the target of repression and just punishment from now on”.
Attacks against Iran and its allies, amid the Israel-Gaza war, have pushed the Middle East to a “dangerous moment”, experts say. The twin explosions that killed at least 95 in Iran’s Kerman, the assassination of a senior Iranian commander in Syria and strikes in Beirut and Baghdad are all being seen in Tehran as attempts to wall it in or even drag it into an open confrontation with its main rivals in the region, the US and Israel, a source close to Hezbollah told The National.
“Iran, after many weeks of apparent restraint, is feeling the heat and seeing that there is an uptick in attacks against the Axis of Resistance,” the source said, referring to a Tehran-backed network that encompasses militant groups in Palestine, Iraq, as well as the influential Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Syrian government.
Wednesday’s explosions in the city of Kerman hit a gathering of thousands commemorating the fourth anniversary of the death of Qassem Suleimani, deceased commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force.
The Iranian general, who was the architect of the so-called Axis, was killed in a US strike in Baghdad in 2020.
ISIS on Thursday claimed responsibility for the blasts in Kerman but Mohammad Jamshidi, senior adviser to Iran’s President, accused Israel and the US of being behind them.
“Washington says USA and Israel had no role in [the] terrorist attack in Kerman, Iran. Really? A fox smells its own lair first,” he wrote on social media
platform X, formerly Twitter. “Make no mistake. The responsibility for this crime lies with the US and Zionist regimes and terrorism is just a tool.”
An Israeli military spokesman declined to comment on the explosions.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said any suggestion of American involvement was “ridiculous” and that Washington had “no reason to believe that Israel was involved”.
The Kerman attack happened days after the killing of Brig Gen Razi Mousavi, a senior
IRGC adviser in Syria. Iran has accused Israel of being behind the attack and vowed to retaliate.
The assault also came hours after an Israeli strike killed Saleh Al Arouri, the Iranbacked Hamas deputy leader in Beirut. It was followed by a strike on Thursday in eastern Baghdad that killed three militants allied with Tehran.
Both Iran and Hezbollah have accused Israel of killing Mr Al Arouri.
After the series of attacks “Iran now feels obliged to answer with a different tone”,
said the source close to Hezbollah.
Trita Parsi, co-founder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a Washington-based think tank, agreed.
“Thus far, Iran has only responded indirectly to Israel”, Mr Parsi said.
“But as Israel’s attacks continue, Tehran’s long-game strategy is coming under increasing strain as more voices in Iran argue that the absence of a strong response undermines Iran’s deterrence. This is a very dangerous moment. A
region-wide war appears more likely by the day”.
Vali Nasr, a professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University, wrote on X that the assault showed “Israel can hit Iran hard” in its own territory.
“There will be retaliation, but maybe not immediately,” he said, claiming Iran “knows that it is being baited into a war that could involve the US”.
Paramilitary troops backed by Tehran have escalated attacks across Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen since Israel struck back against Hamas in Gaza. The
Palestiniang group, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by the US and the EU, infiltrated Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping another 240.
More than 100 hostages remain in Gaza.
Tension escalated recently as US troops and Iraqi Shiite militias increased their tit-fortat attacks.
In Yemen, the Houthi rebels have also increased attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global commerce and sparking a build-up of western naval power in the waterway.