Almost 100 dead in blasts at Iran memorial for assassinated commander

More than 95 Iranians were killed and scores more injured in a terrorist attack at a ceremony in Iran to commemorate the assassination of a top general, further heightening tensions in the increasingly volatile Middle East.

The explosions came at a memorial ceremony in Iran marking the fourth anniversary of the killing of Qassem Suleimani, the head of Iran’s al-Quds force, and it was not clear whether either of Suleimani’s principal regional adversaries – Israel or Islamic State – were responsible for the carnage.

Iran’s new minister of interior, the hardliner Ahmad Vahidi, did not immediately attribute blame for the attack and no side claimed responsibility for the deadliest single terrorist incident since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. The US state department said it had no reason to believe Israel was involved.

An early death toll of 103 was revised down, but Iran’s health minister, Bahram Einollahi, said many of the wounded were in critical condition and the toll could rise.

The attack could not have come at a more febrile moment in the Middle East. Fighting between Hamas and Israel continues to rage in Gaza, and Hamas accused Israel of launching a drone attack on Tuesday that killed its deputy head in Beirut. That attack saw limited casualties in a densely populated neighbourhood of the Lebanese capital.

Israel’s hallmark is the targeted assassination of key military and scientific figures inside Iran, as opposed to mass terrorist attacks on civilians, but it has also said its rules of engagement have changed in response to the Hamas killings on 7 October, for which Israel holds Iran ultimately responsible.

Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, responded: “The enemies of the nation should know that such actions can never cause a disturbance in the iron determination of the Iranian nation to defend Islamic ideals.”

He said the attacks only made Iran more determined “to dry up the roots of terror and violence”. Iran has shown no desire to become directly embroiled in fighting Israel, preferring instead to provide support to proxy groups.

Officials said the explosions were caused by two bombs that were detonated remotely.

Witness reports spoke of two explosions 15 minutes apart in the south-central city of Kerman tearing into the crowds that had gathered to mark the death of Suleimani, once regarded as the most powerful figure in the Middle East, and responsible for extending Iranian influence in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.

According to the state news agency, Irna, the first explosion occurred 700 metres from Suleimani’s burial place and the second was 300 metres further away.

State-run media in Iran cited Babak Yektaparast, a spokesperson for the country’s emergency service, as saying 73 people had been killed, but the death toll rapidly rose in the afternoon. A day of mourning was announced for Thursday.

The blasts occurred on the roads leading to Golzar Shohada, the Garden of Martyrs cemetery in Kerman, Suleimani’s home town. His body is buried in the cemetery along with 1,024 other people regarded as martyrs, and the site has become a place of pilgrimage for supporters of the “axis of resistance” against the US and the west. Hospitals in Kerman and surrounding areas were put on alert to treat the injured.

Mojtaba Zolnouri, the deputy speaker of the Iranian parliament, claimed: “The non-suicidal nature of the terrorist attack in Kerman shows that it is an act of the Zionist regime. We will punish the Zionist regime with a revenge that will have global operational value.”

Kianush Jahanpur, the former spokesperson for Iran’s health ministry during the Covid outbreak, said on social media: “The answer to this crime should only be in Tel Aviv, Haifa.”

Many world leaders, including the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, confined themselves to expressions of sympathy and did not seek to identify the perpetrator.

Significantly in September, the Fars news agency had reported that a key “operative” affiliated with the Islamic State group, in charge of carrying out “terrorist operations” in Iran, had been arrested in Kerman. In 2017, a group of five IS terrorists attacked the Iranian parliament building and the mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini, killing 17 civilians and injuring 43. Tehran has claimed it has stopped other IS attacks inside Iran targeting civilians in public places.

Others who could be behind the attack include exile groups, nationalist forces and state actors. Iran recently said it had eradicated a group backed by the Mossad, the Israeli state secret service.

On 25 December, an Israeli airstrike in Syria killed a top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, prompting Tehran to threaten that Israel would “certainly pay” for its actions.

Iranian state media identified the commander as Razi Mousavi, a senior adviser in al-Quds force, saying he had been killed in an airstrike near the Syrian capital, Damascus. Fighting is also continuing on the Lebanese-Israeli border.

At the same time, US and UK warnings to Iran to end its support for the attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea being launched by Houthi forces in Yemen appear to have fallen on closed ears. The Houthis said on Wednesday they were responsible for firing two more missiles at merchant ships travelling near the Bab al-Mandeb strait. It was the first attack since the US said it might fire on Houthi missile launchers inside Yemen.

The Houthis have vowed to maintain the attacks until Israel allows more humanitarian aid into Gaza. Major commercial shipping lines including the Danish shipping company Maersk extended a suspension of services through the Red Sea until further notice, pointing to the threats to its crew and cargo. The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, spoke to the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, about the Yemen crisis on Tuesday.

Suleimani was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in 2020 ordered by Donald Trump and was seen as the leader directing Iranian proxy forces in Iraq and Syria. His Shia forces, part of the Revolutionary Guards and more powerful than the Iranian foreign ministry, were also determined foes of the Sunni Islamic State group.