Kerman
\nDozens of people were killed Wednesday in the Iranian city of Kerman after twin blasts near the burial site of slain military commander Qasem Soleimani, in what officials called a terror attack.
\nThe blasts, at least one of which was caused by a bomb, state TV said, came on the fourth anniversary of Soleimani\u2019s death in a US airstrike, and threaten to accelerate tensions in the region that have spiked since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
\nAt least 84 people were killed and 284 others injured, according to state-run news agency IRNA, citing Jafar Miadfar, head\u2019s of Iran\u2019s national emergency agency. The toll was revised down due to the miscounting of body parts.
\nNo group has claimed responsibility for the blasts, the deadliest to hit Iran since the 1979 revolution.
\nIran\u2019s President Ebrahim Raisi blamed Israel for the explosions, saying it will pay a \u201cheavy price.\u201d
\n\u201cI warn the Zionist regime, do not doubt that you will pay a heavy price for this crime and the crimes you have committed,\u201d Raisi said in a televised speech from Tehran. Raisi, who is the head of the Iranian government, warned that Israel\u2019s punishment will be \u201cregrettable and severe.\u201d
\nThe Israeli military told CNN it had \u201cno comment\u201d on the matter while the US State Department said it had no reason to believe Israel was involved.
\nAnalysts and a US official speculated that the blast had the hallmarks of a terrorist attack.
\n\u201cI think it\u2019s just based on the MO it does look like a terrorist attack, the type of thing we\u2019ve seen ISIS do in the past. And as far as we\u2019re aware, that\u2019s kind of I think our going assumption at the moment,\u201d the official said.
\nIran has suffered major Islamist terror attacks before. In 2022, at least 15 people were killed and 40 others injured in the southern city of Shiraz. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack swiftly afterwards, saying it targeted groups of \u201cSunni infidels.\u201d
\nThe first explosion was 2,300 feet (700 meters) from Soleimani\u2019s grave, and the second was 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) away as pilgrims visited the site, IRNA reported.
\nSoleimani was killed by a US airstrike ordered by former President Donald Trump at Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020.
\nIRINN, another state television channel, reported that the first explosion near the grave of Soleimani was caused by a bomb placed in a suitcase inside a Peugeot 405 car, and appeared to be detonated remotely.
\nIran\u2019s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said the first explosion happened at 3:00 p.m. local time (6 a.m. ET) during an interview with Iran\u2019s state news channel IRIB. Vahidi said the second, more deadly blast took place 20 minutes later, when other pilgrims came to help the injured.
\nVideos posted on Iranian state media showed large crowds running in the area after the explosion.
\nFootage also showed bloodied bodies being transported from the scene, and ambulances leaving the site through large crowds.
\nIran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Iran will have a \u201charsh response.\u201d Addressing those behind the explosions, he wrote: \u201cThey should know that the bright soldiers of the path of Soleimani will not tolerate their wickedness and crimes.\u201d
\nIran declared Thursday a day of mourning following the blasts and Raisi canceled his upcoming trip to Turkey.
\nFormerly one of Iran\u2019s most powerful men, Soleimani was head of the Revolutionary Guards\u2019 Quds Force, an elite unit that handles Iran\u2019s overseas operations and was deemed to be a foreign terrorist organization by the US.
\nThe Pentagon says Soleimani and his troops were \u201cresponsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more.\u201d
\nKnown as Iran\u2019s \u201cshadow commander,\u201d Soleimani \u2013 who had led the Quds Force since 1998 \u2013 was the mastermind of Iranian military operations in Iraq and Syria.
\nGen. Ismail Qaani, Soleimani\u2019s longtime lieutenant and his successor as the leader of the Quds Force, said the perpetrators were \u201cdesperate,\u201d warning that \u201cthe Islamic Republic will not change the method of eradicating the Zionist regime.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kerman Dozens of people were killed Wednesday in the Iranian city of Kerman after twin blasts near the burial site of slain military commander Qasem Soleimani, in what officials called a terror attack. The blasts, at least one of which was caused by a bomb, state TV said, came on the fourth anniversary of Soleimani\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378741,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-378736","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n