Iranians pay tribute on Friday to some 90 victims of the attack perpetrated Wednesday in southern Iran, near the tomb of General Qassem Soleimani, during a funeral in Kerman (south), official media announced. The double explosion, claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, occurred during a memorial ceremony in Kerman near the tomb of General Soleimani, former architect of Iranian military operations in the Middle East killed in January 2020 by a strike American in Iraq.
Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said on television Friday that intelligence services had arrested “certain individuals involved” in the attack, without further details. The funeral began around noon in the courtyard of the Emam Ali mosque, where a crowd gathered in front of dozens of coffins wrapped in Iranian flags, according to images broadcast by state television. Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi as well as General Hossein Salami, leader of the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic, were present.
A death toll rising to 89
Ebrahim Raïssi claimed in a speech that the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for the attack on Thursday, had been “trained” by Israel, the sworn enemy of the Islamic Republic. “Know that the initiative belongs to us, the place and time (to respond to the attack in Kerman) will be determined by our forces,” he warned. The IS “has disappeared” and “can now only act as a mercenary of Zionist and American policy”, General Salami accused for his part.
Many people present brandished the Iranian flag, that of Lebanese Hezbollah, a Shiite movement allied with Tehran, or even portraits of Qassem Soleimani. The death toll rose to 89, including women and children, after the death of five injured, state television announced on Friday. At least twelve of the victims are Afghan nationals, according to the same source.
Demonstrations across the country to “condemn the terrorist attack”
The bodies of the victims from Kerman will be buried at the Martyrs’ Cemetery in Kerman after the big Friday prayer, while the others will be transferred to their hometowns. The television also reported that demonstrations will take place across the country after the prayer to “condemn the terrorist attack” by ISIS. On Thursday, the jihadist group claimed responsibility for the attack via its Telegram channels, saying that two of its members had “activated their explosive belt” in the middle of “a large gathering of apostates, near the grave of their leader”.
General Soleimani, a key figure in the Islamic Republic and former head of the Quds Force, Iran’s foreign operations branch, is celebrated in his country for his role in the defeat of ISIS in Iraq and Syria.