The ISIS terrorist group has claimed responsibility for setting off a pair of blasts in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman on Wednesday, according to social media profiles associated with the internationally designated terrorist group.
In a Thursday morning post, the ISIS-affiliated Amaq News Agency stated two ISIS fighters infiltrated crowds near the grave of the deceased Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, setting off their explosives about 20 minutes apart, killing and wounding hundreds.
Mr. Soleimani was the commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force, which specializes in irregular warfare through partner proxy forces throughout the Middle East. The IRGC and several of its affiliates have been designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the United States.
The Wednesday bombing attack in Kerman coincided with an event commemorating the fourth anniversary of Soleimani’s death in Baghdad, Iraq. Soleimani had been traveling in Baghdad on Jan. 3, 2020, alongside Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was commander of the Kata’ib Hezbollah organization—another U.S.-designated terrorist organization—when then-President Donald Trump ordered a drone strike killing the Iranian commander, the Kata’ib Hezbollah commander, and several other members of their vehicle convoy.
Iranian state media at one point reported as many as 103 people were killed in the Wednesday blasts in Kerman, but subsequently revised the death toll down twice, to 95 killed and then to at least 84 killed. As many as 284 people were injured in the attack.
Terrorist organizations have been known to detonate a secondary explosive several minutes after an initial attack, maximizing casualties as emergency responders arrive at the scene.
Iran Has Battled With ISIS for Years
The Shia Iranian government has fought with ISIS, a Salafi Sunni organization, throughout the terrorist group’s rise in Iraq and Syria in the 2010s.
The Iranian government has allied with the Syrian government under President Bashar Al-Assad throughout Syria’s ongoing multifactional civil war, in which ISIS has been a recurring opponent. Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Front (PMF), which was sanctioned by the Iraqi government as a means of countering the ISIS presence in Iraq, has also served as an umbrella organization for various Iranian Quds Force affiliates, such as Kata’ib Hezbollah.
ISIS has carried out previous attacks inside Iran.
ISIS terrorists carried out a combined suicide bombing and mass shooting attack in the capital city of Tehran on June 7, 2017. That attack saw one group of ISIS terrorists open fire at an Iranian parliamentary building while a second group of ISIS terrorists opened fire at the Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini before detonating suicide bombs at both locations, killing at least 17 people and wounding dozens more.
ISIS claimed responsibility for another attack in the southwestern Iranian city of Shiraz on Oct. 26, 2022. That incident saw a lone gunman enter the Shah Cheragh mosque, a popular Shia pilgrimage site, before opening fire with a rifle, killing at least 13 and wounding dozens more.
While ostensibly organized to fight ISIS, Iran’s Iraqi PMF partners have frequently conflicted with the U.S.-led counter-ISIS mission in Iraq and Syria, known as “Operation Inherent Resolve.” This conflict has frequently led to deadly exchanges between U.S. forces and the Iran-backed Shia militants.
Iran Vows ‘Harsh Response’ for Bombings
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi declared Thursday to be a national day of mourning in Iran following the deadly blasts in Kerman.
In a Wednesday evening statement, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei declared the Iranian side would inflict a “harsh response” against the perpetrators of the bombings in Kerman.
At a Wednesday press briefing, U.S. State Department spokesman denounced “irresponsible claims that I have seen circulate” that the United States was somehow involved in the Kerman bombing attack.
“The United States was not involved in any way, and any suggestion to the contrary is ridiculous,” said Matthew Miller, spokesman for the U.S. Department of State.
Mr. Miller and White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also both said that the United States has no reason to believe the Israeli government was involved in the Kerman blasts.
“With respect to the explosions in Iran today, what I’ll say: We have been following the reports rather closely. We don’t have any independent information to offer on them. We do express our sympathies to the victims and their loved ones who died in this horrific explosion,” Mr. Miller said.