Skip to main content

Iran leaders vow revenge at funeral for bomb attack victims

1 min Mena Today

Iran's president and the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp on Friday vowed revenge at the funeral for the victims of twin Islamic State bombings two days earlier.

A satellite image shows a large crowd of mourners gathering at the Kerman Martyr's Cemetery to commemorate the 4th anniversary of the death of Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, in Kerman, Iran January 3, 2024. Maxar Technologies/Handout via Reuters

A satellite image shows a large crowd of mourners gathering at the Kerman Martyr's Cemetery to commemorate the 4th anniversary of the death of Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, in Kerman, Iran January 3, 2024. Maxar Technologies/Handout via Reuters

Iran's president and the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp on Friday vowed revenge at the funeral for the victims of twin Islamic State bombings two days earlier.

Nearly 100 people were killed at a memorial in the city of Kerman on Wednesday for top commander Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in Iraq in 2020 by a U.S. drone.

Islamic State said on Thursday that two of its members had detonated explosive belts in the crowd that had gathered at the cemetery in the southeastern city.

"We will find you wherever you are," IRGC commander Major-General Hossein Salami said at the funeral, referring to Islamic State.

In a televised speech, President Ebrahim Raisi said: "Our enemies can see Iran's power and the whole world knows its strength and capabilities. Our forces will decide on the place and time to take action".

State TV showed a dense crowd at the Imam Ali religious centre in Kerman where families wept over rows of coffins wrapped in the Iranian flag.

Mourners shouted "revenge, revenge", "Death to America" and "Death to Israel".

Tehran often accuses Israel and the United States of backing anti-Iran militant groups that have carried out attacks in the past.

Wednesday's blasts, the bloodiest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, came as Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza nears the three-month mark.

In 2022, Islamic State claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a Shi'ite shrine in Iran that killed 15 people, while earlier attacks claimed by Islamic State include twin bombings in 2017 that targeted Iran's parliament and the tomb of the Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Tags

Related

Lebanon

The art of the bad deal: Trump's Iran framework explained

Let us call it what it is. The framework agreement on Iran is not a peace deal. It is a capitulation dressed up in diplomatic language, and its most immediate victims are the two countries that have paid the highest price in blood and treasure to confront Iran's aggression: Israel and Lebanon.

Iran

Peace in sight, peril ahead

With an agreement on a framework for a peace deal with Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump may have found a way to begin extricating himself from an unpopular war while setting global markets on a path toward easing energy prices that have spiked during the crisis.  

Iran

Pakistan announces U.S.-Iran peace breakthrough

The United States and Iran have reached a deal to end their war and will hold an official signing ceremony on Friday in Switzerland, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on social media early on Monday.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Mena banner 4

To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.

  • Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.