What to know about Iran's deadly twin blasts
TEHRAN - The Islamic State jihadist group said Thursday that it carried out twin bombings which killed 84 people in Iran, but its claim is unlikely to entirely silence those who see an Israeli hand amid its war with Iran ally Hamas.
Labelled a "terrorist attack" by Iranian authorities, Wednesday's bombings hit crowds commemorating Revolutionary Guards general Qasem Soleimani, four years after his death in a US drone strike.
Soleimani, who headed the Guards' foreign operations arm the Quds Force, was also a staunch enemy of IS, a Sunni Muslim extremist group which has carried out previous attacks in majority-Shiite Iran.
In a statement on Telegram, IS said two of its members "activated their explosives vests" among the crowds who had come to honour Soleimani, who remains a revered figure in Iran.
Iran has yet to complete its investigation into the twin suicide bombings but here is a look at what we know so far:
- What happened? -
The bombers struck near the Martyrs Cemetery at the Saheb al-Zaman Mosque in Kerman, Soleimani's southern hometown where he is buried.
Iranian investigators had already confirmed that the first blast at least was the work of a "suicide bomber" and believed the trigger for the second was "very probably another suicide bomber", the official IRNA news agency reported earlier, citing an "informed source".
- Who's to blame? -
Speaking before IS published its claim, President Ebrahim Raisi's deputy chief of staff for political affairs, Mohammad Jamshidi, charged that "the responsibility for this crime lies with the US and Zionist regimes (Israel) and terrorism is just a tool".
Current Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani said the Kerman crowd was "attacked by bloodthirsty people supplied by the United States and the Zionist regime".
Iran has long fought a shadow war of killings and sabotage with arch enemy Israel, and regularly accuses it, along with the United States, of inciting unrest in the country.
But for Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, Wednesday's attack "doesn't have the hallmarks of previous Israeli covert ops in Iran", referring to killings of officials and nuclear scientists blamed on Israel.
Washington rejected any suggestion that it or ally Israel was behind the deadly blasts, while Israel declined to comment.
"The United States was not involved in any way, and any suggestion to the contrary is ridiculous," said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
The Security Council called on all UN member states on Thursday "to cooperate actively" with Iran in holding "perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable".
"Any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed," the Security Council statement said.
- What's next? -
Iranian security analyst Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh said the attacks may have involved Sunni extremists but "were not possible without" US and Israeli intelligence services.
He said they could be "a sign sent to force Iran to negotiate and ask it to cooperate in the management of regional tensions".
The United States has accused Iran of "actively facilitating" attacks on US forces in the Middle East. It also said Tehran was "deeply involved" in attacks by Yemen's Huthi rebels on merchant vessels in the Red Sea.
President Ebrahim Raisi has said Iran sees it as "its duty to support the resistance groups" but insisted that they "are independent in their opinion, decision and action".
Iran has been actively battling jihadist and extremist groups that have claimed multiple attacks in the country over the years.
"The next question is how is Iran going to respond," said Vaez.
"If it blames Israel, it is likely to try to respond in kind -- targeting high value or soft targets somewhere.
"If it blames IS... expect arrests/executions and even missiles fired into their bases in the region." - AFP
