Hailing Hamas, Iranian president says October 7 massacres will destroy Israel
Speaking to mourners at funerals for 89 victims of ISIS suicide bombings, Raisi threatens perpetrators: ‘Our enemies can see Iran’s power and the whole world knows its strength’
The October 7 Hamas massacres in southern Israel will bring about the downfall of Israel, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Friday, speaking in Kerman at a funeral for the 89 people killed in twin blasts claimed by the Islamic State group.
The suicide bombings struck crowds in the southern city, where many had gathered on Wednesday to commemorate slain Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps general Qassem Soleimani, on the fourth anniversary of his death in a US drone strike.
The attack killed 89 people, state TV said, raising an earlier toll following the deaths of several of the wounded.
Speaking at the funeral, Raisi hailed Hamas for its deadly October 7 onslaught, in which thousands of terrorists attacked more than 20 communities across southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and seizing around 240 hostages.
“We know that ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ operation will bring about the end of the Zionist regime,” he said, using Hamas’s name for the attack.
“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,” he added in a reference to those who carried out the deadly blasts, for which ISIS has claimed responsibility.
Despite the claim of responsibility, Iranian officials have continued to suggest Israeli and US involvement.
ISIS “has disappeared nowadays,” said Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami during the funeral ceremony, arguing the jihadists “only act as mercenaries” for US and Israeli interests.
The US rejected any suggestion that it or its ally Israel were behind the bombings, while Israel has yet to comment.
Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi told state TV that “some individuals involved in the attack have been arrested,” without elaborating.
Friday’s funeral took place at the Emam Ali mosque in Kerman, where crowds gathered in front of dozens of coffins wrapped in the Iranian flag, according to state media.
The mourners waved the national flag as well as the yellow flag of Tehran’s ally in Lebanon, Hezbollah, along with portraits of Soleimani, amid shouts of “revenge, revenge,” “Death to America and “Death to Israel.”
The victims included multiple women and children and at least a dozen Afghan nationals, according to Iranian state TV.
President Raisi, who arrived in Kerman to attend the funerals, also visited Soleimani’s grave, state TV said.
Iranian authorities called for mass rallies after the funerals and Friday prayers to protest the bombings.
In a statement published Thursday on Telegram, ISIS said two of its members “activated their explosives vests” at the gathering.
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,” official news agency IRNA had reported earlier, citing an “informed source.”
A staunch enemy of the jihadist group, Soleimani headed the Quds Force, the Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations arm, overseeing military operations across the Middle East.
