Iran Bombings: After twin explosions shook a ceremony in Iran‘s southern city of Kerman on Wednesday, at least 95 people were killed and over 200 were injured. The explosion occurred as hundreds gathered to remember commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by a US drone in 2020. The second detonation was detected roughly 20 minutes after the first, according to Iranian official television.
Mystery Surrounds Responsibility
Nobody claimed responsibility for the explosions. The incident, however, was blamed on unspecified “terrorists” by Iranian officials. Meanwhile, a senior Biden administration official in the United States said the explosions seemed to be “a terrorist attack” of the type carried out previously by Islamic State terrorists.
Historic Tragedy Unfolds
The twin blasts in Iran on Wednesday were the worst strike in the Islamic Republic’s history, which has faced similar attacks in the past from numerous groups, including the Islamic State. According to Iranian Health Minister Bahram Eynollahi, the death toll was reduced from 103 to 95 when investigators discovered that certain names on a list of victims had been repeated.
Tragedy Strikes on Soleimani Anniversary
The explosions occurred during the fourth anniversary commemorations of the death of General Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s special Quds Force, in a US drone strike in neighbouring Iraq. As large lines of people assembled for the celebration, the blasts occurred near his cemetery. The explosions jolted the city of Kerman, located around 820 kilometres (510 miles) southeast of Tehran. The second explosion spewed shrapnel into the panicked throng that had fled the first explosion.
Chronology of the Explosions
The first bomb went off around 3 p.m. on Wednesday, while the second went off around 20 minutes later (Iran local time), according to Iran’s interior minister, Ahmad Vahidi. According to him, the second blast killed and injured the most people. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi strongly condemned the attack, calling it a “heinous and inhumane crime.”
Identifying and Punishing Perpetrators
“The perpetrators and leaders of this cowardly act (in Kerman) will soon be identified and punished by the security and law enforcement forces. The enemies of the Iranian nation should know that such actions (terrorist attacks in Kerman) can never disrupt the iron-clad determination of the people to defend Islamic ideals. Enemies cannot even tolerate the burial site of Martyr General Soleimani,” Iran’s President said. Furthermore, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, pledged vengeance for the terrible twin bombings, saying, “Cruel criminals… must know that they will be strongly dealt with from now on and… there will undoubtedly be a harsh response.”
Satellite Image Reveals Solemn Gathering
A Reuters satellite image showed a big assembly of mourning along the road heading to Soleimani’s cemetery in Kerman. The image also depicted buses and cars near the cemetery, as well as the location of one of the explosions before it occurred. Nobody claimed responsibility for the explosions. According to a senior Biden administration source in Washington, the explosions appeared to be “a terrorist attack” of the type carried out in the past by Islamic State fighters. In the past, Iran has blamed Israel for assaults on individuals or sites within its borders, charges that Israel has neither confirmed nor denied, but there was no evidence of a foreign power being involved in the cemetery blasts.
Official Report on Explosive Devices
An unnamed official told state news agency IRNA that “two explosive devices planted along the road leading to Kerman’s Martyrs’ Cemetery were detonated remotely by terrorists,” according to Reuters. Social media videos showed onlookers attempting to assist survivors and others fleeing the blast zone. Rescuers from Iran’s Red Crescent also rushed to the blast site and rescued numerous injured people. As several countries condemned the attacks, including Russia and Turkey, another video on social media showed images from inside a hospital, where many of the injured were transported.
UN Secretary-General Calls for Accountability
The UN Secretary-General demanded that those who were responsible be held accountable. Russian President Vladimir Putin also conveyed his sympathies and stated that Russia rejects all types of terrorism. Soleimani was the architect of Iran’s regional military efforts and is revered as a national hero by followers of theocracy in Iran. He also aided in the consolidation of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime after the 2011 Arab Spring protests against him erupted into a civil, and eventually a regional, war that is still raging today.
Rise to Prominence
Soleimani was little unknown in Iran before the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. His appeal and mystique grew after US officials called for his death in response to his assistance in arming militants with penetrating roadside explosives that killed and injured US forces. Soleimani had become Iran’s most recognisable battlefield commander a decade and a half later. Ultimately, the general was murdered by a drone strike undertaken by the Trump administration, as part of rising occurrences that followed America’s unilateral withdrawal from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018.
Funeral Processions for Soleimani
In the past, massive processions have attended Soleimani’s funeral. At his funeral in 2020, a stampede broke out in Kerman, killing at least 56 people and injuring more than 200 as throngs thronged the procession. According to the Associated Press, Iran has long armed terrorist organisations such as Hamas, the Lebanese Shiite terror group Hezbollah, and Yemen’s Houthi rebels. As Israel continues its deadly campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s October 7 strikes, which killed 1,200 people, Hezbollah and the Houthis have initiated attacks on Israel, claiming to be acting on behalf of Palestinians.
Suspicions of Israeli Involvement in Beirut
According to the source, Israel is suspected of carrying out the attack in Beirut on Tuesday that killed a Hamas deputy leader, but the attack resulted in few deaths in a highly populated neighbourhood of the Lebanese city. A purported Israeli attack killed a Revolutionary Guard commander in Syria last week. According to the report, a Houthi spokesman, Mohammed Abdel-Salam, attempted to link the bombs to Iran’s “support for resistance forces in Palestine and Lebanon,” though he did not specifically accuse anyone for the attack.
Islamic State Claims Responsibility
The Sunni Muslim terrorist organisation Islamic State claimed responsibility for a fatal attack on a Shi’ite shrine in Iran in 2022, killing 15 people. Previous assaults claimed by the group include the deadly double bombings of Iran’s parliament and the grave of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in 2017. In Iran, Baluchi terrorists and ethnic Arab separatists have also carried out attacks.
Soleimani’s Death in US Drone Attack
The US death of Soleimani in a drone attack on Baghdad airport on January 3, 2020, and Tehran’s reaction by attacking two Iraqi military bases that house US forces pushed the US and Iran dangerously near to war. US soldiers have been attacked by Iran-backed militants in Iraq and Syria in response to Washington’s support for Israel, and have carried out their own retaliation bombings.
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