More than 100 people are believed to have been killed in southern Iran on Wednesday after explosions struck a memorial event for a senior Iranian general killed in a 2020 U.S. drone strike, ramping up tensions in a region already on edge.
The first of two blasts hit around 2,300 feet from the tomb of Gen. Qassem Soleimani in the Kerman Martyrs Cemetery, the semiofficial news agency ISNA reported. It added that the second explosion was around 2,000 feet away.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts — which injured at least 140 and was one of the worst attacks in the Islamic Republic’s history.
Soleimani, who grew up in the city of Kerman, the regional capital of a province of the same name, was killed in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad.
At the time of his death, Soleimani was among the country’s most powerful men as the leader of Iran’s secretive Quds Force, part of the Revolutionary Guard, tasked with protecting and advancing his nation’s interests in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories.
Some Iranian officials were quick to denounce Wednesday’s explosions as “terrorist attacks,” but uncertainty surrounded the incident in a country where information is closely controlled by the ruling theocratic regime.
The semiofficial Fars news agency reported that three policemen were among the dead.
Rahman Jalali, Kerman’s deputy governor for security, told the state-run IRNA news agency that the explosions had been “carried out by terrorists.” The semiofficial Tasnim news agency said that the blasts were caused by two explosive-laden suitcases.
“The nation of Iran is in mourning and many families mourned the death their loved ones,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said. “The hard-hearted criminals could not tolerate the love and enthusiasm of the people to visit the shrine of their great commander Qassem Soleimani.” Khamenei did not call out the “criminals” by name in his statement to IRNA.
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