Iran has pledged to deliver a “firm response” to the perpetrators of a double bombing that left at least 84 people dead—and scores more injured—in its southeastern city of Kerman on Jan. 3.
“Iran’s enemies have once again inflicted disaster, martyring numerous people in Kerman,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said in the immediate wake of the attack.
The perpetrators would be “harshly dealt with,” he asserted, pledging that the “heinous” attack would draw a “firm response” from Iran.
Hours earlier, a ceremony marking the fourth anniversary of the death of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the slain commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), was rocked by two massive explosions that occurred 10 minutes apart.
According to Iran’s health ministry, at least 84 people were killed by the twin blasts, which appeared to be the deadliest there since the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Gen. Soleimani, who had commanded the IRGC’s elite Quds Force, was killed in Baghdad on Jan. 3, 2020, by a U.S. drone strike. At the time, Tehran responded by attacking U.S. forces deployed in Iraq, where Iran—and Iran-backed militant groups—wield considerable influence.
The twin blasts in Kerman, which occurred at the cemetery where Gen. Soleimani is buried, coincided with the fourth anniversary of his death.
On Jan. 4, Iran observed a day of national mourning for victims of the attack, for which the terrorist group ISIS has claimed responsibility.
In recent months, Iran has been hit by sporadic acts of violence in several parts of the country.
In September 2022, 19 people were killed, including security personnel, when a police station in the southeastern city of Zahedan—not far from the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan—came under attack.
Tehran blamed the incident, which remains shrouded in ambiguity, on foreign-backed “militants.”
The following month, more than a dozen Shiite pilgrims were killed when a gunman opened fire on a religious shrine in the south-central city of Shiraz.
Responsibility for that attack was purportedly claimed by ISIS.
At the time, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said the attack “raises the question of who created—and supports—the [ISIS] terrorist group in an effort to destabilize the region.”
Tehran frequently blames such attacks on its external enemies, especially Israel and the United States, while providing little evidence for the claims.
On Dec. 25, 2023, Seyed Razi Mousavi, a senior IRGC official, was killed in Damascus, Syria, in what’s widely believed to have been an Israeli airstrike.
When asked about Mr. Mousavi’s death, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said, “The Israeli military has a responsibility to protect Israel’s security interests.”
Some high-ranking Iranian officials have pointed the finger at Israel and the United States for the Jan. 3 attack in Kerman.
“Responsibility for this crime lies with the U.S. and Zionist [Israeli] regimes,” Mohammad Jamshidi, a top aide to Mr. Raisi, said in a Jan. 3 social media post.
Later the same day, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller dismissed what he called “irresponsible claims” about alleged U.S. and Israeli complicity in the deadly blasts.
“Number one, the United States was not involved in any way,” he told reporters. “Any suggestion to the contrary is ridiculous.
“Number two, we have no reason to believe that Israel was involved in this explosion.”
Regional Tensions Soar
The deadly blasts in Iran coincide with Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip, which has reportedly killed thousands of Palestinians and caused regional tensions to soar.Israel launched its campaign in early October 2023 following a raid by Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas that left more than 1,200 Israelis dead.
Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union.
Tehran openly supports Hamas and rejects Western claims that Iran was involved in the group’s deadly Oct. 7, 2023, raid.
Since Israel launched its campaign in Gaza, U.S. forces deployed in Iraq and Syria have come under repeated attack by Iran-backed militant groups.
The United States, long regarded as Israel’s No. 1 ally, has responded to attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria with retaliatory airstrikes.
Recent weeks have also seen repeated attacks on maritime traffic through the Red Sea by Yemen’s Ansar Allah Shiite militia, informally known as the Houthis.
Closely tied to Shiite Iran, the Houthis overran much of Yemen, including the capital of Sanaa, in 2014.
Known to be heavily armed, the group has vowed to continue attacking vessels associated with Israel until the Jewish state halts its offensive in Gaza.
On Dec. 31, 2023, U.S. military helicopters thwarted a Houthi attack on a container ship in the Red Sea, sinking three Houthi boats and killing 10 fighters.
Nevertheless, the group has vowed to continue its attacks on maritime traffic until its demands for a ceasefire in Gaza are met.
