Day after twin explosions, Iran vows ‘strong retaliation’

Dubai, January 4

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards and First Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber vowed revenge on Thursday for explosions that killed nearly 100 people at a ceremony to commemorate top commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by a US drone in 2020 in Iraq.

IS claims responsibility for deadliest attacks

Islamic State on Thursday claimed the responsibility for two deadliest attacks that killed 100 people and wounded scores in Kerman. In a statement posted on its affiliate Telegram channels, the militant Sunni Muslim group said two IS members had detonated their explosive belts in the crowd which had gathered at the cemetery in the southeastern Iranian city.

The Islamic State claimed the responsibility for the twin explosions. “A very strong retaliation will be handed to them on the hands of the soldiers of Soleimani,” Mokhber told reporters at a hospital were some of the wounded were receiving treatment for the bloodiest attack since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In a statement, Iran’s powerful Guards 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 Guards also said the attack “strengthens the resolve to decisively and justly punish the perpetrators”. The Guards commander in the southeastern city of Kerman denied state media reports of a shooting in Kerman on Thursday. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi condemned the “inhumane crime”, and Iran’s top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, vowed revenge for the twin bombings.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council in a statement condemned the “cowardly terrorist attack” and sent its condolences to the victims’ families and the Iranian government. — Reuters