ISIS claims responsibility for deadliest attack in Iran since Islamic Revolution

ISIS claimed responsibility on Thursday for two explosions in Iran that killed nearly 100 people and wounded scores at a memorial for top commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by a U.S. drone in Iraq in 2020.

In a statement posted on its affiliate Telegram channels, the militant Sunni Muslim group said two ISIS members had detonated their explosive belts in the crowd that had gathered at the cemetery in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman on Wednesday for the anniversary of Soleimani’s death.

Tehran earlier blamed the explosions on “terrorists” and vowed revenge for the bloodiest such attack since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The twin blasts also wounded 284 people, including women and children.

“A very strong retaliation will be meted out to them by the hands of the soldiers of Soleimani,” Iran’s first vice-president, Mohammad Mokhber, told reporters in Kerman.

Earlier, an unnamed source told the state news agency IRNA that the first explosion at the cemetery in Kerman, Soleimani’s hometown, “was the result of a suicide bomber’s action.”

“The cause of the second blast was most likely the same,” the source told IRNA.

Explosions kill dozens at event honouring Iranian general

At least 95 people were killed after two bombs exploded at an event honouring prominent Iranian general Qassam Soleimani, who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in 2020. No one has taken responsibility for the attack.

The United Nations Security Council in a statement condemned Wednesday’s “cowardly terrorist attack” in Kerman and sent its condolences to the victims’ families and the Iranian government.

State TV showed crowds gathered at dozens of cities across Iran chanting: “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.”

Iranian authorities have called for mass protests on Friday, when the funerals of the victims of the twin blasts will be held, state media reported.

‘Heinous and inhumane crime’

Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards Corps described the attacks as a cowardly act “aimed at creating insecurity and seeking revenge against the nation’s deep love and devotion to the Islamic Republic.”

The Guards commander in Kerman denied state media reports of a shooting in Kerman on Thursday.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has condemned Wednesday’s “heinous and inhumane crime.” Iran’s top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, vowed revenge for the bombings.

In 2022, ISIS claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a Shia shrine in Iran that killed 15 people.

Earlier attacks claimed by ISIS include twin bombings in 2017 that targeted Iran’s parliament and the tomb of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

The United States denied on Wednesday any involvement in the explosions and said it also had no reason to believe Israel was involved. It said the blasts appeared to represent “a terrorist attack” of the type carried out in the past by ISIS.

Tehran often accuses its arch enemies, Israel and the U.S., of backing anti-Iran militant groups that have carried out attacks against the Islamic Republic in the past. Baluchi militants and ethnic Arab separatists have also staged attacks in Iran.

Tensions rising between Iran, Israel

The U.S. assassination of Soleimani in a 2020 drone attack at Baghdad airport and Tehran’s retaliation — by attacking two Iraqi military bases that house U.S. troops — brought the U.S. and Iran close to full-blown conflict.

As chief commander of the elite Quds force, the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, Soleimani ran clandestine operations abroad and was a key figure in Iran’s long-standing campaign to drive U.S. forces from the Middle East.

Tensions between Iran and Israel, along with its ally the U.S., have reached a new high over Israel’s war on Iran-backed Hamas militants in Gaza in retaliation for their Oct. 7 rampage through southern Israel.

On Thursday, a U.S. airstrike on the headquarters of an Iran-backed militia in central Baghdad killed a high-ranking militia commander.

The Popular Mobilization Force, or PMF, a coalition of militias that is nominally under the control of the Iraqi military, announced in a statement that its deputy head of operations in Baghdad, identified as Abu Taqwa, had been killed “as a result of brutal American aggression.”

A U.S. defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide information that has not yet been publicly released, confirmed details of the strike Thursday, saying that Abu Taqwa was targeted because he was actively involved in attacks on U.S. personnel. Abu Taqwa was identified as a leader of the Harakat al-Nujaba group.

That group, one of the militias within PMF, was designated a terrorist organization by Washington in 2019.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia have attacked ships they say have links to Israel in the entrance to the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

U.S. forces have come under attack from Iran-backed militants in Iraq and Syria over Washington’s backing of Israel and have carried out their own retaliatory airstrikes.