Two explosions at the Kerman rite on the anniversary of the assassination of Qassem Suleimani further exacerbate tensions in the Middle East
More than 95 Iranians were killed and scores more injured in a terrorist attack at a ceremony in Iran to commemorate the assassination of a top general, further heightening tensions in the increasingly volatile Middle East.
The blasts took place as a commemorative rite in Iran marking the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Qassem Suleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Force, and it was unclear whether any of Suleimani’s main regional adversaries — Israel or the Islamic State — were to blame for the attacks. . the slaughter.
Iran’s new hardline interior minister, Ahmad Vahidi, did not immediately assign responsibility for the attack and neither claimed responsibility for the deadliest terrorist incident since Iran’s 1979 revolution. The U. S. State Department said it had no explanation as to why Israel was involved.
The initial death toll of 103 was revised downwards, but Iran’s Health Minister Bahram Einollahi said many of the injured were in critical condition and the death toll could rise.
The attack may have come at a more feverish time in the Middle East. Fighting between Hamas and Israel continues in Gaza, with Hamas accusing Israel of launching a drone strike on Tuesday that killed its deputy leader in Beirut. The attack caused few casualties in a densely populated domain of the Lebanese capital.
Israel’s hallmark is the targeted killing of key military and clinical figures in Iran, as opposed to major terrorist attacks on civilians, but it has also said its rules of engagement have been replaced in reaction to the Oct. 7 killings. through Hamas, for which Israel is holding Iran accountable at the end of the day.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi responded: “The enemies of the country will have to know that such moves will never be able to disturb the iron determination of the Iranian country to uphold Islamic ideals. “
He said the attacks only strengthened Iran to “dry up the roots of terror and violence. “Iran has shown no willingness to get directly involved in the fight against Israel, which prefers instead to provide aid to proxy groups.
Officials said the explosions were caused by two bombs that were detonated remotely.
Witness reports spoke of two explosions 15 minutes apart in the south-central city of Kerman tearing into the crowds that had gathered to mark the death of Suleimani, once regarded as the most powerful figure in the Middle East, and responsible for extending Iranian influence in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.
According to the state news agency, Irna, the first explosion occurred 700 metres from Suleimani’s burial place and the second was 300 metres further away.
Iranian state media quoted Babak Yektaparast, a spokesman for the country’s emergency services, as saying another 73 people had been killed, but the death toll rose by the afternoon. A day of mourning was announced for Thursday.
The explosions occurred on the roads leading to Golzar Shohada, the cemetery of the Garden of Martyrs in Kerman, Suleimani’s hometown. His body is buried in the cemetery along with 1,024 other people considered martyrs, and the site is a place of pilgrimage. for supporters of the “axis of resistance” opposed to the United States and the West. Hospitals in and around Kerman have been put on alert to treat the wounded.
Mojtaba Zolnouri, deputy speaker of Iran’s parliament, said: “The non-suicidal nature of the terrorist attack in Kerman shows that this is an act of the Zionist regime. We will punish the Zionist regime with a vengeance that will have global operational value. “
Kianush Jahanpur, former spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Health after the Covid outbreak, stated on social media: “The reaction to this crime only deserves to be in Tel Aviv, Haifa. “
Many world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, simply expressed sympathy and tried to identify the perpetrator.
Significantly, in September, the Fars news company reported that a key “operative” affiliated with the Islamic State organization, tasked with carrying out “terrorist operations” in Iran, had been arrested in Kerman. In 2017, an organization of five ISIS terrorists attacked the Iranian parliament building and Ruhollah Khomeini’s mausoleum, killing 17 civilians and injuring 43 others. Tehran has claimed to have stopped other IS attacks on Iranian civilians in public places.
Other people who would possibly be targeted include exile organizations, nationalist forces, and state actors. Iran recently said it had eliminated an organization subsidized through Mossad, the Israeli state secret service.
On Dec. 25, an Israeli airstrike in Syria killed a senior commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, prompting Tehran to threaten that Israel would “certainly pay” for its actions.
Iranian state media knew the commander as Razi Mousavi, a senior adviser to the Quds Force, and said he was killed in an airstrike near the Syrian capital, Damascus. Fighting also continues on the border between Lebanon and Israel.
At the same time, U. S. and U. K. warnings to Iran to end its attacks on advertising ships in the Red Sea smuggled by Houthi forces into Yemen appear to have fallen on deaf ears. The Houthis said on Wednesday they were guilty of firing two more missiles at merchant ships sailing near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. It was the first strike since the U. S. announced it could fire on Houthi missile launchers in Yemen.
The Houthis have vowed to maintain the attacks until Israel allows more humanitarian aid into Gaza. Major commercial shipping lines including the Danish shipping company Maersk extended a suspension of services through the Red Sea until further notice, pointing to the threats to its crew and cargo. The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, spoke to the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, about the Yemen crisis on Tuesday.
Suleimani was killed in a U. S. drone strike in Baghdad in 2020 ordered through Donald Trump and was considered the leader who ran Iranian proxy forces in Iraq and Syria. Its Shiite forces, components of the Revolutionary Guards and tougher than Iran’s Foreign Ministry, were also determined enemies of the Sunni Islamic State group.