The attack claimed by ISIL (ISIS) took place in Kerman on Wednesday during a memorial for top commander Qassem Soleimani
\nKerman
\nIranian President Ebrahim Raisi has promised to retaliate after twin bombings in the city of Kerman this week killed and wounded many people attending a memorial for top General Qassem Soleimani.
\nOn Friday, Raisi addressed thousands of mourners who had gathered in Kerman, about 820km (510 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran.
\nHe said Tehran\u2019s enemies could see \u201cIran\u2019s power and the whole world knows its strength and capabilities\u201d, adding that \u201cour forces will decide on the place and time to take action\u201d.
\nAs people paid respects to the victims in front of caskets draped in Iranian flags, they shouted: \u201cDeath to America!\u201d and \u201cDeath to Israel!\u201d
\nISIL (ISIS) claimed responsibility for Wednesday\u2019s bombings in a statement on Thursday.
\nAt least 89 people were killed in the blasts, and more than 280 were injured. Several Afghan nationals were also among those killed.
\n\u201cWe will find you wherever you are,\u201d the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Major General Hossein Salami, told the crowd, referring to ISIL.
\nISIL said two of its members had detonated explosive belts in the crowded cemetery where many people had gathered at a memorial for Soleimani, the head of the IRGC\u2019s elite Quds Force, who died in a United States drone strike in Iraq in 2020 ordered by then-President Donald Trump.
\nState television showed footage from the Imam Ali religious centre in Kerman, where grieving families mourned and people chanted \u201crevenge, revenge\u201d.
\nThe United Nations, European Union and several countries, including China, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Germany and Iraq, denounced the bombings.
\nTehran frequently alleges that both Israel and the US support anti-Iran armed groups involved in past attacks.
\nIn 2022, ISIL claimed responsibility for an attack on an Iranian Shia shrine that killed 15 people. Earlier attacks attributed to ISIL include 2017 twin bombings targeting Iran\u2019s parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic republic.
\nAl Jazeera\u2019s Ali Hashem, reporting from Tehran, said the authorities in Iran were linking the attack to growing regional tensions during Israel\u2019s war in Gaza.
\n\u201cThey can\u2019t see this as isolated from what\u2019s happening across the region,\u201d Hashem said.
\n\u201cThe Iranians have not taken the statement from ISIL seriously. We\u2019ve had the Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi saying they\u2019re looking into it and that they will have their say in the coming hours.\u201d
\nThe attacks occurred a day after the killing of Saleh al-Arouri, a deputy leader of the Palestinian armed group Hamas, an ally of Iran, in a drone strike in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, raising fears of further escalation in the region following the start of Israel\u2019s war in Gaza on October 7.
\nRaisi said the end of Al-Aqsa Flood, the name of the operation launched by Hamas on October 7, \u201cwill be the end of the Zionist regime [Israel]\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The attack claimed by ISIL (ISIS) took place in Kerman on Wednesday during a memorial for top commander Qassem Soleimani Kerman Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has promised to retaliate after twin bombings in the city of Kerman this week killed and wounded many people attending a memorial for top General Qassem Soleimani. On Friday, Raisi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379039,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-379023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n