From Le Figaro with AFP
Published 2 hours ago, updated 25 minutes ago
After the double explosion in Kerman, southern Iran. WANA NEWS AGENCY / Portal
The attack was carried out on Wednesday near the grave of General Qassem Soleimani, whose death Iran celebrated in 2020.
Those responsible for the attack that killed 84 people in Iran on Wednesday, January 3rd are now known. The Islamic State organization claimed responsibility in a press release on Thursday. The attack was carried out near the grave of General Qassem Soleimani, the former architect of Iranian military operations in the Middle East, whose death the country celebrated in 2020.
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.”
This double explosion came in a very tense regional context since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began in October and the day after the elimination of a senior official of the Palestinian Islamist movement in an attack near Beirut attributed to Israel.
Suicide bombers involved
The attack targeted a crowd that had gathered at a memorial ceremony near the Saheb al-Zaman mosque, where General Soleimani's grave is located. The former architect of Iranian military operations in the Middle East is celebrated in his country for his role in defeating the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria.
According to the official Irna agency, citing “an informed source,” the first explosion was caused by a suicide bomber, a man whose body was blown to pieces. Secondly, the investigation is continuing, but according to Irna it was most likely a suicide bomber. The first explosion occurred around 2:45 p.m. local time, about 700 meters from the Iranian general's grave, and the second 15 minutes later. According to AFP archives, the attack is Iran's deadliest since 1978, when an arson attack at a cinema in Abadan killed at least 377 people.
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Israel and the USA were initially blamed
In Iran, officials immediately pointed the finger at Israel and the United States for this attack. A political adviser to Iran's president, Mohammad Jamshidi, accused the “American and Zionist regimes” of being behind the attack. In the United States, the State Department called any suggestion of U.S. or Israeli involvement in what “looks like a terrorist attack like ISIS has done in the past” “absurd “. to a senior American official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had earlier promised a “tough response” to the “evil and criminal enemies of the Iranian nation” who carried out the attack. Iran is engaged in a shadow war with Israel and is also fighting various jihadist and militant groups, particularly in the south and southeast of the country, which have suffered multiple attacks in recent years.