Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Fatal Attack at Soleimani Memorial in Iran
Two suicide bombers affiliated with the Islamic State were responsible for the devastating terror attack that rocked Iran on Wednesday, a Telegram channel associated with the Sunni jihadist group claims.
Iranians had gathered in the southeastern city of Kerman for an event commemorating the slain Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Gen. Qasem Soleimani, when two separate explosions were detonated within about 20 minutes of each other in the area near the cemetery where the fallen general was buried.
Soleimani, who was killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad four years ago, had a devoted following within Iran but his martyrdom at the hands of the Americans has strengthened his popularity, leading the annual event held on the anniversary of his death to draw a large crowd. 84 people were killed and more than 280 wounded in the blasts, Iranian authorities report as of Thursday.
The Telegram statement did not identify which regional branch of the self-proclaimed caliphate was directly responsible for Wednesday’s attack, but it did release the alleged photos and names of the perpetrators: Omar al-Mowahed and Seif-Allah al-Mujahed. The statement says that the men each wore an explosive device under their clothes, detonating the weapon while near crowds of mourners gathered for the event.
Regional experts say the Islamic State being behind the Kerman bombing is consistent with the transnational Sunni jihadist group’s modus operandi of aiming for mass casualties. Aaron Y. Zelin, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute of Near East Policy, notes that the Telegram statement was posted from an Islamic State-associated account and matches the group’s anti-Shia, anti-Iran sentiments. In 2022, the group claimed responsibility for an attack on a Shiite shrine in Iran that killed 15 people.
Zelin argues that the Islamic State likely wanted to incite Iran to take direct military action against Israel, with the underlying hope of taking advantage of the chaos from a greater regional conflict.
“They are kind of like the Joker. They want to see the world burn. They don’t care how it happens as long as it benefits them,” Zelin says.
Iranian government officials have not publicly commented on the Islamic State’s alleged role but IRNA, the country’s state-run news agency, has mentioned the allegation, citing an “unnamed” source claiming to have seen security camera footage that shows one of the bombers detonating the explosive near the cemetery.
Guided by an extremist interpretation of Sunni Islam, the Islamic State opposes Iran’s Shiite theocracy, viewing both the Iranian government and its central religious doctrine as heretical. Militarily, Iran also played a key role in dismantling the group’s once extensive rule over large parts of western Iraq and eastern Syria. Direct intervention from Iran and its proxy Hizbullah—the powerful Lebanon-based Shiite militia with cadet branches littered throughout the region—were instrumental in the counterinsurgency campaigns waged against the terrorist group by the Iraqi government and Assad’s government in Syria during the mid-2010s.
