EU’s top diplomat condemns ‘terrorist attack’ in call with Iran FM

The EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell offered his condolences to Iran after what he described as a “terrorist attack” that killed over 100 people during a call with Iran’s foreign minister.

Twin bomb blasts in southern Iran ripped through a crowd commemorating General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, who was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq exactly four years ago.

The attacks remain unclaimed but Iran has blamed Israel and the United States.

Borrell spoke to Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian “to convey condolences following the horrific bombings today in Kerman that killed dozens of civilians”, the EU’s foreign policy chief says on social media.

“I condemned this terrorist attack in the strongest terms and expressed solidarity with the Iranian people,” Borrell adds.

Iran has multiple foes who could be behind the assault, including exile groups, armed organizations and state actors. While Israel has carried out attacks in Iran over its nuclear program, it has conducted targeted assassinations, not mass casualty bombings. Sunni extremist groups, including the Islamic State group, have conducted large-scale attacks in the past that killed civilians in Shiite-majority Iran, though not in relatively peaceful Kerman.

Soleimani was the architect of Iran’s regional terror activities and is hailed as a national icon among supporters of Iran’s theocracy.

Soleimani, who led the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, was credited with helping arm, train and lead armed groups across the region, including the Shiite militias in Iraq, fighters in Syria and Yemen, the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group, and Palestinian terror groups in the West Bank and Gaza.