People chant slogans at the scene of Wednesday's bomb explosion in the city of Kerman, about 820 kms southeast of the capital Tehran, on Thursday, January 4, 2024.
People chant slogans at the scene of Wednesday's bomb explosion in the city of Kerman, about 820 kms southeast of the capital Tehran, on Thursday, January 4, 2024. Image Credit: AP
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Daesh claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack in Iran that killed scores of people and threatened to further inflame tensions in the Middle East.

The terrorist group was behind the blasts near the grave of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, according to a statement on the group's Telegram channel. Tehran said at least 84 people were dead and 220 others wounded, after reducing its estimate of fatalities several times.

Iran had said the blasts were aimed at punishing its stance against Israel's attack of Gaza.

But in Washington, White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters the United States was in no position to doubt Daesh's claim that it was responsible for Wednesday's attack.

Tehran vows revenge

Tehran has vowed revenge for the bloodiest such attack since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

"A very strong retaliation will be meted out to them by the hands of the soldiers of Soleimani," Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber told reporters in Kerman.

Iranian authorities have called for mass protests on Friday, when the funerals of the victims of the twin blasts will be held, state media reported.

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Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps described the attacks as a cowardly act "aimed at creating insecurity and seeking revenge against the nation's deep love and devotion to the Islamic Republic".

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has condemned what he called Wednesday's "heinous and inhumane crime". Iran's top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, vowed revenge for the bombings.

Twin explosions

The explosions took place within 15 minutes of each other outside the graveyard where a crowd of people participated in a ceremony to commemorate the death of Soleimani in a US drone strike in Iraq's capital in 2020. The blasts were caused by bombs planted in a suitcase and a car near the graveyard entrance and detonated remotely, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

The attacks came a day after Israel was believed to be behind the killing of a key leader of the Iran-backed Hamas militant group in Lebanon's capital, Beirut, but US officials said there was no reason to suspect Israeli involvement in the Iran bombings.

Still, the attacks marked a new peak in regional tensions since Israel began its war against Hamas after the group infiltrated Israel on October 7 and killed about 1,200 people.