An adviser to the Iranian presidency, in a message posted on X (formerly Twitter), accused the United States and Israel of being responsible for the two attacks that killed at least 103 people in southern Iran on Wednesday.
A political adviser to the Iranian president on Wednesday accused Israel and the United States of being behind the twin attacks that killed at least 103 people in the south of the country on Wednesday, January 4. These two explosions occurred near the grave of General Qassem Soleimani, the former architect of Iranian operations in the Middle East, whose death Iran celebrated the fourth anniversary in 2020
“Washington says the US and Israel played no role in the terrorist attack in Kerman, Iran. Really? A fox cannot smell its own scent,” Mohammad Jamshidi wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“The responsibility for this crime lies with the American and Zionist regimes, and terrorism is just a tool,” he said.
The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi had earlier promised “a tough response” to the explosions.
The act is not claimed at this time
Israel has not commented on the claim and the US State Department called the idea that the United States or Israel were linked to the explosions “absurd.”
According to a senior American official who spoke to AFP, these explosions resembled a “terrorist attack” like that carried out by the Islamic State (IS) group. “It looks like a terrorist attack, ISIS has done something like that in the past and that's what we're assuming at this point,” senior administration official Joe Biden told reporters on condition of anonymity.
The UN chief also condemned this double attack “in the strongest possible terms” on Wednesday. “The Secretary-General (Antonio Guterres) calls for those responsible to be brought to justice,” his deputy spokeswoman Florencia Soto Nino said in a statement.
Fears that the war between Israel and Hamas could ignite the entire Middle East had already been growing since an attack killed Hamas No. 2, Saleh al-Arouri, in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
High tensions on the Israeli-Lebanese border
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, an ally of Iran, warned Israel of further escalation following the death of Saleh al-Arouri, who is to be buried in the Palestinian Shatila camp in Beirut on Thursday.
“At the moment we are fighting in a calculated manner on the front (…), but if the enemy thinks of starting a war against Lebanon, we will fight without borders, without restrictions and without borders,” he explained.
“We are not afraid of war,” Hassan Nasrallah threatened again.
In Israel, army chief Herzi Halevi said his troops were on alert on the border with Lebanon (north), where exchanges of fire have occurred almost daily since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
“We are at a very high level of preparation in the north (…) I believe our preparation is at the highest level,” he said, pointing to “opportunities” to “bring about significant change” in the region.
Since the beginning of this conflict, tensions have also increased in Syria and Iraq, where American bases are under attack, but also in the Red Sea, where the Houthi rebels in Yemen are carrying out attacks to slow down maritime traffic to “support” Gaza.
The war that has been ongoing in Gaza since that attack has claimed the lives of 22,313 people, mostly women, youth and children, or nearly 1% of the territory's population of 2.4 million, according to Hamas's latest assessment. a movement classified as “terrorist” by the United States, Israel and the European Union.