No group has yet claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s double bombing in the south-eastern Iranian city of Kerman. Tensions are escalating, however, with Iranian leaders blaming the United States and Israel and vowing to retaliate.
The incident took place during a memorial service at a cemetery on the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike at Baghdad airport in 2020.
Conflicting reports about the number of casualties emerged as the first blast was followed by a second. Initial figures put the death toll at 103, but Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi later revised the figure to 84, citing duplicate records.
Following the blasts, President Ebrahim Raisi declared Thursday a national day of mourning and cancelled his planned trip to Turkey. Interior Minister Vahidi addressed the public, calling for calm while vowing retaliation.
The IRGC issued a statement condemning the blasts as a ‘cowardly act’, describing them as an attempt to create insecurity and take revenge on the nation’s devotion to the Islamic Republic. The statement also vowed retaliation.
Gholamreza Soleimani, the commander of the IRGC’s Basij force, claimed that the Mossad and the CIA had orchestrated the Kerman incident. The Kayhan daily, known as the voice of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, attributed the explosions to Israel and called for a measured but immediate response.
The US State Department denied any involvement in the blasts and rejected the notion of Israeli involvement. Washington officials have pointed to the possible role of the Islamic State (ISIS) or an affiliated Sunni extremist group.
Adding to tensions, Iranian state media reported unconfirmed gunfire in Kerman the day after the twin blasts.
The attacks came a day after Saleh al-Arouri, a deputy leader of the Palestinian armed group Hamas and an ally of Iran, was killed in a suspected Israeli drone strike in the Lebanese capital Beirut. This has raised fears of escalating tensions in the region amid the war in Gaza.
