Islamic State claimed responsibility Thursday for two blasts in the Iranian city of Kerman, with nearly a hundred people killed and many wounded at the memorial of commander Qasem Soleimani.
The militant Sunni Muslim group claimed in affiliated Telegram channels that two IS members detonated explosive belts in a crowd gathered Wednesday at a cemetery in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Soleimani, killed in Iraq in 2020 by a US drone.
White House spokesman John Kirby stated that the United States did not doubt Islamic State’s claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack.
Tehran vowed to avenge the bloodiest attack since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The dual blasts also injured 284 people, including children. Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber stated:
A very strong retaliation will be meted out to them by the hands of the soldiers of Soleimani.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps called the attacks a cowardly act “aimed at creating insecurity and seeking revenge against the nation’s deep love and devotion to the Islamic Republic.”
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi condemned what he called Wednesday “heinous and inhumane crimes.” Iran’s top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, vowed revenge for the bombings.
According to Aaron Zelin, an expert with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy thinktank, Tehran claims ISIS-K stood behind many failed terror plots over the past five years. Most of those arrested were Iranians, Central Asians or Afghans from the affiliate’s network based in Afghanistan, not from the group’s network in Iraq and Syria.
As commander-in-chief of the elite Quds Force, the overseas arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Soleimani conducted covert overseas operations and was a key figure in Iran’s multi-year campaign to drive US troops out of the Middle East.
