Almost 100 people died after an attack on Iran when thousands of people were gathered in the city of Kerman for the fourth anniversary of the murder of Qasem Soleimani, who was killed by a US drone strike in 2020 in Iraq. Now, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber have promised revenge after the explosions.
According to Mokhber, “a very strong retaliation will be delivered to them in the hands of Soleimani’s soldiers.” These statements were said by himself to journalists at a hospital where some of the wounded were receiving treatment for the attack on Iran.
Attack in Iran: the promise of revenge
As revealed by the local press, two explosions shook a mosque in the city of Kerman where he is buried Soleimani. Shortly after, the vice-governor of the city, Rahman Jalalisaid the explosions were a “terrorist attack,” but did not accuse anyone in particular..
The truth is that no one claimed responsibility for the explosions. A senior Joe Biden administration said the explosions appeared to represent “a terrorist attack” of the type perpetrated in the past by Islamic State militants.
In a statement, Iran’s powerful Guard described Wednesday’s attack as a cowardly act “aimed at creating insecurity and seek revenge against the nation’s deep love and devotion to the Islamic RepublicThe powerful Guards also said the attack “reinforces the determination to decisively and fairly punish the perpetrators.”
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi condemned the “heinous and inhuman crime“, and the highest authority of IranSupreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneipromised revenge for the attacks.
The attack occurred in the midst of very serious tensions in the Middle East due to the offensive of Israel against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and one day afterassassination of the number two of the Islamist group Palestinian in a presumably Israeli attack in the south of Beirut, capital of Lebanon.
The attacks that Iran has suffered
Tehran often accuses his archenemies, Israel and the United Statesto support militant groups anti-iran. In 2022, the Sunni Muslim militant group Islamic State claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a Shiite shrine in Iran in which 15 people died.
Previous attacks claimed by the group include two in 2017 against the Iranian Parliament and the tomb of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Baloch militants and ethnic Arab separatists have also carried out attacks in Iran.
The murder of Soleimani by the United States on January 3, 2020 in a drone attack on Baghdad airport, and Tehran’s retaliation – attacking two Iraqi military bases housing US troops – brought the United States and Iran into total conflict.
As commander-in-chief of the elite Quds Force, the foreign arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Soleimani led clandestine operations abroad and was a key figure in Iran’s long campaign to expel US forces from the Middle East.
The tensions between Iran and Israelalong with its ally the United States, have reached a new high point in the wake of Israel’s war against Iranian-backed Hamas militants in Gaza, in retaliation for their October 7 incursion into southern Israel.
The Yemen Houthi militia, backed by Iran, has attacked ships they say have ties to Israel at the entrance to the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes. Additionally, US forces have been attacked in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militants over Washington’s support for Israel and have carried out their own retaliatory airstrikes.
Source: Ambito
