More than 100 killed in ‘terrorist attacks’ near tomb of Iranian Guards’ Soleimani. Two explosions killed more than 100 people and injured dozens more during a ceremony in Iran on Wednesday to honor senior commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by a US drone in 2020, according to Iranian officials, who blamed nameless “terrorists.”

During a packed anniversary event at the cemetery where Soleimani is buried in the southern city of Kerman, Iranian official media reported a first and then a second bomb.

An unnamed official claimed that terrorists remotely detonated “two explosive devices planted along the road leading to Kerman’s Martyrs’ Cemetery.” According to state television, at least 103 people were murdered and 211 others were injured, making it one of the bloodiest such assaults in Iran, which has previously experienced such occurrences from various organizations, including the Islamic State.

Nobody claimed responsibility for the explosions on Wednesday. At the ceremony, where hundreds of Iranians had gathered to honor the anniversary of Soleimani’s death, Red Crescent rescuers attended to the injured. According to certain Iranian news outlets, the injury was substantially more significant.

“I heard a very loud sound and then felt pain in my back. Then I couldn’t feel my legs,” an injured lady told state television from a Kerman hospital.

The chairman of the Kerman Red Crescent Society, Reza Fallah, told state media that the large crowd was making it difficult to evacuate the injured.

Other films published by Iranian television showed scores of victims sprawled about, with some witnesses attempting to assist survivors and others fleeing the bombing zone.

“Despite all security and safety precautions, a terrible sound was heard there.” “We’re still looking into it,” Fallah added.

According to the state news agency, the cemetery was later evacuated and shuttered until further notice. The government declared Thursday a national day of mourning.

While no one has been officially blamed, Iran’s Interior Minister, Ahmad Vahidi, has promised a stern response.

“Those who committed these crimes should expect a strong and decisive response by Iran’s security forces,” Vahidi said on Iran’s state-run television, adding that “everything is under control now and calm has been restored.”

PRIOR ATTACKS
The Sunni Muslim jihadist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for a fatal attack on an Iranian Shi’ite temple in 2022, killing 15 people.

Previous assaults claimed by the organization 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 assaults.

The killing of Soleimani by the US in a drone assault at Baghdad airport, followed by Tehran’s reprisal by striking two Iraqi military bases that house US soldiers, pushed the US and Iran dangerously near war in 2020.

Soleimani was the head commander of Iran’s elite Quds force, the overseas branch of the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and a significant player in Iran’s long-running campaign to push US soldiers out of the Middle East.

Tensions between Iran and Israel, as well as its ally the United States, have reached a new high in response to Israel’s offensive against Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists in Gaza in revenge for their Oct. 7 rampage into southern Israel.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia has assaulted ships they claim have ties to Israel at the Red Sea’s entry, one of the world’s busiest commerce channels.

In response to Washington’s support for Israel, Iran-backed insurgents in Iraq and Syria have launched their retaliatory air attacks.

An Israeli air strike in Syria on Monday killed a top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Iran has previously claimed Israel for assaults on individuals or sites within its borders, charges that Israel has neither verified nor denied. Still, there was no sign of a foreign state’s participation in the explosives during Wednesday’s event.