Ambulances leave the site where two successive explosions struck a crowd marking the anniversary of the 2020 assassination of General Qasem Soleimani, near the Saheb al-Zaman mosque in the southern Iranian city of Kerman. (Credit: AFP/ HO/IRAN PRESS)
BEIRUT — The Lebanese foreign ministry condemned on Wednesday the two explosions that hit Iran earlier in the day and warned of the "seriousness" of the incident, state-run National News Agency reported.
At least 103 people were killed in Iran when two bombs in quick succession struck a crowd commemorating a top commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Qasem Soleimani, on the anniversary of his killing, state media reported. Soleimani was killed by a US drone in 2020 in the area of Baghdad International Airport.
The blasts, which state television called a "terrorist attack," came as tensions run high in the Middle East a day after Hamas' deputy political leader Saleh al-Arouri — an ally of Iran — was killed in a drone attack on a Beirut southern suburb, which Lebanese officials, Hamas, and Hezbollah have attributed to Israel. Israeli officials have neither confirmed nor denied the allegations.
Reuters reported US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller as saying, during a regular news briefing, that the United States was not involved in any way in the explosions in Iran and has no reason to believe Israel was.
The Lebanese foreign ministry warned of "the seriousness of this criminal act" and warned that this incident can possibly "destabilize regional security."
Finally, the ministry expressed its condolences to "the Iranian government and people and the families of the victims," wishing a speedy recovery to the injured.