At least 103 people were killed Wednesday and 188 injured 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. <\/p>\n
The 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 air strike, and threatens to accelerate tensions in the region that have spiked since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. <\/p>\n
The 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 added. <\/p>\n
Soleimani was\u00a0killed by a US airstrike\u00a0ordered by former President Donald Trump at Baghdad International Airport four years ago Wednesday. <\/p>\n
IRINN, 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. <\/p>\n
Iran\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. <\/p>\n
Videos posted on Iranian state media showed large crowds running in the area after the explosion. <\/p>\n
Footage also showed bloodied bodies being transported from the scene, and ambulances leaving the site through large crowds. <\/p>\n
No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts, yet Iran\u2019s President Ebrahim Raisi blamed Israel for the explosions, saying it will pay a \u201cheavy price.\u201d <\/p>\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 <\/p>\n
Though analysts and a US official speculated that the blast had the hallmarks of a terrorist attack. <\/p>\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. <\/p>\n
US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said at a press briefing that the US does not \u201chave any independent information\u201d about the explosions, and that the State Department has \u201cno reason to believe that Israel was involved.\u201d <\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah\u00a0Ali Khamenei warned on X, formerly known as Twitter, that\u00a0Iran\u00a0will 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 <\/p>\n
Iran declared Thursday a day of mourning following the blasts and Raisi canceled his upcoming trip to Turkey. <\/p>\n
Formerly 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. <\/p>\n
The\u00a0Pentagon says\u00a0Soleimani and his troops were \u201cresponsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more.\u201d <\/p>\n
Known 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. <\/p>\n
General 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
The blast occurred amid heightened tensions in the region as Israel fights a three-month war against Hamas in Gaza prompted by the militant group\u2019s October 7 attack on Israel. <\/p>\n
That war has left more than 23,000 people dead in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the enclave, and has led to skirmishes beyond Israel and Gaza, often involving Iran-backed militias. <\/p>\n
Last week, Iran and several of its armed proxies accused Israel of\u00a0assassinating a senior Iranian commander\u00a0in Syria, vowing retaliation. Israel didn\u2019t comment on the matter. <\/p>\n
In an address marking the anniversary of Soleimani\u2019s death, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the killing of the Hamas official in Beirut \u201cwon\u2019t go unpunished.\u201d <\/p>\n
Israel accuses Tehran of funding and arming Hamas. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said last month that his country is in a \u201cmulti-arena war,\u201d being attacked from seven arenas, including Iran. \u201cWe have already responded and acted in six of these decrees\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Russian President Putin condemned \u201cterrorism in all its forms\u201d in a letter to Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi after the blasts. Putin, who is the subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, has been accused by Kyiv and international bodies of numerous acts of terror during his war in Ukraine. <\/p>\n
Both the European Union and the United Nations chief Antonio Guterres also condemned Wednesday\u2019s blasts and called for the perpetrators to be held responsible. <\/p>\n
The United States has also stepped up its military involvement in the Middle East recently. Last month, the military carried out airstrikes on Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah and \u201caffiliated groups\u201d in Iraq after an attack injured three US troops. <\/p>\n
And last week, US helicopters\u00a0sank three boats\u00a0belonging to Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea after coming under fire, killing those on board. The event marked the first time since tensions broke out earlier last year that the US killed members of the rebel group. <\/p>\n
The White House said it wasn\u2019t seeking a wider conflict. The Houthis have carried out\u00a0several attacks\u00a0on merchant vessels in the Red Sea in retaliation for Israel\u2019s assault on Hamas, disrupting trade in one of the world\u2019s most important waterways. <\/p>\n\n
At least 103 people were killed Wednesday and 188 injured 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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":13559,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}