A year has passed since the murder of Major General Qasem Soleimani, and that happened on January 3rd. In central Iran, thousands of mourners came to pay their respects to the terrorist who had died. The city was devastated by explosions, leaving several dead.
Two blasts rocked the city of Kerman, where throngs of people gathered to honor Soleimani. The general of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was killed by a US drone strike in 2020 as his vehicle traveled along a service road near Baghdad International Airport. Former President Donald Trump ordered the assassination of the man who reportedly played a part in the deaths of Americans. Iran retaliated by attacking a US-occupied base in Iraq and injuring American soldiers.
There were at least 95 fatalities and 211 injuries, according per the reports. After authorities found duplicate names on the list, the initial reports were revised down from 103 deaths. On the road leading up to the cemetery, roughly half a mile from Soleimani’s grave, the explosions took place. About twenty minutes elapsed between the explosions. Allegedly, a car bomb was the source of the first explosion. Someone had apparently set it off from a distance.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi blamed Israel for the explosions. He said that the “Zionist regime” was going to “pay a heavy price for this crime and the crimes you have committed.” He went on to say the punishment was going to be “regrettable and severe.”
No statement has been issued regarding the attack by the Israeli military.
According to The Washington Post, an unnamed senior official with President Joe Biden’s administration spoke to reporters and said the bombings resembled a terrorist attack carried out by an insurgent group, like the Islamic State. The official said the US has seen the terrorist organization perpetrate similar attacks in the past. They went on to say that it’s the government’s “going assumption at the moment.”
