State Department says neither US nor Israel behind Iran blasts that killed over 80
Iranian leaders vow revenge for explosions near grave of IRGC’s Soleimani, don’t blame Israel, though some lower-level officials do; US official says it seems like ISIS responsible
WASHINGTON, United States — The United States on Wednesday rejected any suggestion that it or its ally Israel was behind deadly blasts in Iran and warned against further escalation after a suspected Israeli attack on a Hamas leader in Lebanon.
At least 84 people died in southern Iran at the grave of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps General Qassem Soleimani, as mourners gathered exactly four years after he was killed in a US drone strike.
Iran’s leaders vowed revenge for the attack, though without openly accusing Israel. However, Iran’s deputy parliament speaker claimed it had the signs of an Israeli assault because it didn’t involve suicide bombers.
“The United States was not involved in any way, and any suggestion to the contrary is ridiculous,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said of Wednesday’s violence.
“We have no reason to believe that Israel was involved in this explosion,” he also said, expressing his condolences to the victims.
A senior administration official later briefing reporters said the attack was similar to previous ones carried out by ISIS. “That’s the going assumption at the moment.”
The blast on the anniversary of Soleimani’s assassination came one day after a suspected Israeli attack killed the deputy leader of the Palestinian terror group Hamas, Saleh al-Arouri, in the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital Beirut that are a stronghold of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.
Without explicitly confirming Israeli responsibility or backing the strike, Miller said that Arouri was a “brutal terrorist with civilian blood on his hands.”
But he warned against further escalation in the region.
“It is in no one’s interest — not in the interest of any country in the region, not in the interest of any country in the world — to see this conflict escalated any further than it already is,” he said.
Miller declined to assess who carried out the bomb attack in Iran.
Mojtaba Zolnouri, the deputy speaker of the Iranian parliament, blamed Israel.
“The non-suicidal nature of the terrorist attack in Kerman shows that it is an act of the Zionist regime,” he said according to a report from the UK’s Guardian newspaper. “We will punish the Zionist regime with a revenge that will have global operational value.”
BREAKING
Islamic Republic authorities are now telling state media that at least 73 people, including six children, have been killed in the terrorist attack which occurred near the gravesite of Qassem Soleimani in the Iranian city of Kerman.
Authorities say 171 have been… pic.twitter.com/aruPgp7PS3
— Yashar Ali ???? (@yashar) January 3, 2024
The BBC’s Persian language website reported that Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber accused Israel of having a hand in the explosions, saying that “The agents of the Zionist regime” had spilled blood in the attack.
In addition, Kianush Jahanpur, the former spokesperson of Iran’s health ministry, wrote on social media that “The answer to this crime should only be in Tel Aviv, Haifa,” according to the report.
However, top-tier Iranian officials did not immediately accuse Israel of involvement.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed a “harsh response.”
“The evil and criminal enemies of the Iranian nation once again created a disaster and martyred a large number of dear people in Kerman,” said Khamenei in a statement.
“This disaster will have a harsh response, God willing,” he said.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi also condemned the twin blasts.
“Undoubtedly, the perpetrators … of this cowardly act will soon be identified and punished for their heinous act by the capable security and law enforcement forces,” said Raisi in a statement.
“The enemies of the nation should know that such actions can never disrupt the solid determination of the Iranian nation,” he continued but also without specifying any particular entity.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Iran has in the past blamed Israel for attacks that were apparently carried out by domestic armed groups.
Yaron Bloom, a former senior officer in Israel’s Shin Bet security agency rejected any notion that Israel was behind the attack.
“There is no way that Israel would have carried out an attack like this. The attacks [in Iran] that are always blamed on Israel [by the Iranians] are surgical actions in which citizens are not hurt,” Bloom told Channel 12 news. “This is an attack characteristic of Islamic State.”
Iran has multiple foes who could be behind the assault, including exile groups, militant organizations, and state actors.
While Israel has carried out actions 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.
Iran also has seen mass protests in recent years, including those over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in 2022. The country also has been targeted by exile groups in attacks dating back to the turmoil surrounding its 1979 Islamic Revolution.
In September, the Fars news agency reported that a key “operative” affiliated with the Islamic State group, in charge of carrying out “terrorist operations” in Iran, had been arrested in Kerman.
In July, Iran’s intelligence ministry said it had disbanded a network “linked to Israel’s spy organization” which had been plotting “terrorist operations” across Iran, IRNA reported.
The alleged plots included “planning an explosion at the grave” of Soleimani, it said.
Soleimani, whom Khamenei years ago declared a “living martyr,” was widely regarded as a hero in Iran for his role in defeating IS in both Iraq and Syria.
Long seen as a deadly adversary by the United States and its allies, Soleimani was one of the most important powerbrokers across the region, setting Iran’s political and military agenda in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.
Soleimaini led the IRGC’s Quds Force, a US-designated terrorist organization. He was himself designated a terrorist by the US in 2005 for orchestrating terrorist attacks and attempted attacks against US and other targets.
