People injured in two explosions in quick succession that struck a crowd marking the anniversary of the 2020 killing of Guards general Qasem Soleimani are helped outside a hospital in the southern Iranian city of Kerman on Jan. 3, 2024. (Credit: Sare Tajalli/AFP)
TEHRAN — Islamic State claimed responsibility Thursday for two explosions that killed 84 people and wounded many others at a ceremony in Iran to commemorate Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated by a US drone strike in 2020, in Baghdad. The group posted a statement on its affiliate Telegram channels.
Earlier in the day, before the statement from Islamic State, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards and First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber vowed revenge for the explosions, saying "A very strong retaliation will be handed to them on the hands of the soldiers of Soleimani." Mokhber spoke to reporters at a hospital where some of the wounded were receiving treatment for the bloodiest attack since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Also prior to responsibility being claimed, a senior official in US President Joe Biden's administration had said the blasts appeared to represent "a terrorist attack" of the type carried out in the past by Islamic State militants.
State media said there were reports of shooting in the southeastern city of Kerman on Thursday, without providing details.
In a statement, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps described Wednesday's attack as a cowardly act "aimed at creating insecurity and seeking revenge against the nation's deep love and devotion to the Islamic Republic".
The powerful Guards also said the attack "strengthens the resolve to decisively and justly punish the perpetrators.”
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi condemned the "heinous and inhumane crime," and Iran's top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, vowed revenge for the twin bombings.
Iran's Red Crescent rescuers tended to wounded people at the ceremony, where hundreds of Iranians had gathered to mark the anniversary of Soleimani's killing. Some Iranian news agencies said the number of wounded was much higher.
Earlier attacks
Tehran often accuses its arch-enemies, Israel and the United States, of backing anti-Iran militant groups.
In 2022, the Sunni Muslim militant group Islamic State claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a Shiite shrine in Iran which killed 15 people.
Earlier attacks claimed by the group include twin bombings in 2017 which targeted Iran's parliament and the tomb of the Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Baluchi militants and ethnic Arab separatists have also staged attacks in Iran.
The US assassination of Soleimani in a Jan. 3, 2020, drone attack at Baghdad airport, and Tehran's retaliation – by attacking two Iraqi military bases that house US troops – brought the United States and Iran close to full-blown conflict.
As chief commander of the elite Quds force, the overseas arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Soleimani ran clandestine operations abroad and was a key figure in Iran's longstanding campaign to drive US forces from the Middle East.
Tensions between Iran and Israel, along with its ally the United States, have reached a new high over Israel's war on Iran-backed Hamas militants in Gaza in retaliation for their Oct. 7 rampage through southern Israel.
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militia have attacked ships they say have links to Israel at the entrance to the Red Sea, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
US forces have come under attack from Iran-backed militants in Iraq and Syria over Washington's backing of Israel and have carried out their own retaliatory air strikes.