The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility on Thursday for the attack that killed 84 people in Iran the day before, near the grave of General Qassem Soleimani, the former architect of Iranian military operations in the Middle East Death the country celebrated in 2020.
• Also read: Iran: What we know about the attack that killed 84 people
Through its Telegram channels, the jihadist group said that two of its members “activated their explosive belt” yesterday in Kerman, southern Iran, amid “a large gathering of apostates, near the grave of their leader Qassem Soleimani.”
ISIS integrated this operation into a campaign called “And kill them wherever you find them,” the press release said.
Minutes before the claim, ISIS had released an audio recording of its spokesman saying that this campaign was being carried out “in support of Muslims wherever they are, especially in Palestine.”
The attack, which also injured 284 people, occurred near the Saheb al-Zaman mosque, which houses the grave of General Soleimani, who was killed in an American drone strike in Iraq in January 2020.
Qassem Soleimani was a key figure in the Islamic Republic and one of the country's most popular figures. Soleimani was declared a “living martyr” during the lifetime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and celebrated for his role in the defeat of ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Because the attack came in a very tense regional context since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began in October, Iranian officials were quick to point the finger at Israel and the United States.
In the United States, the State Department has deemed as “absurd” any suggestion of U.S. or Israeli involvement in what “looks like a terrorist attack, something like ISIS has done in the past,” a senior U.S. official said on conditional terms of anonymity.