Anniversary of the death of General Soleimani - 95 dead in explosions in Iran - Tehran wants to react "forcefully"
It is the deadliest attack in the 45-year history of the Islamic Republic. On the anniversary of the death of the powerful Iranian general Ghassem Soleimani, at least 95 people were killed in two explosions in his home town of Kerman. Iran's government spoke of a terrorist attack.
Iran's health minister revised the death toll downwards on Wednesday evening. Bahram Eynollahi said in an interview that 95 people had died. He justified the correction by saying that some of the victims' names had previously been counted twice. State media had previously given the number of fatalities as 103. Around 30 patients were still in a critical condition, the minister said. According to Eynollahi, a total of 211 people were injured.
The background to the explosions is still unclear. Initially, no group claimed responsibility for the suspected attack. Terrorist attacks on this scale are extremely rare in Iran. According to media reports, the condition of many of the injured is critical. There is great concern that the number of victims could rise even further. Iran's Health Minister Bahram Eynollahi set off to personally supervise the care of the injured.
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi canceled his first state visit to Turkey. The trip to Ankara originally planned for Thursday has been postponed, the Iranian state news agency Irna reported on Telegram on Wednesday.
Iran wants to "bring criminals to justice"
Iran's Interior Minister Ahmad Wahidi announced a decisive response. "Our police forces are vigilant and will bring those who committed this crime to justice," the minister said. Wahidi said that most of the people were killed in the second explosion. The exact circumstances were being investigated.
Kerman is located in the Iranian province of the same name, surrounded by vast desert areas. On Wednesday, crowds of people made a pilgrimage through the streets of the provincial capital to Soleimani's grave site. The detonations are said to have occurred just a few hundred meters away. Reporters from the state agency Irna spoke of a "terrible sound of an explosion". During a live broadcast by a state television reporter, rescuers could be seen rushing to a hospital with injured people in the background. Pictures of the attack sites showed blood-covered sidewalks, damaged vehicles and shredded clothing. Security forces cordoned off the pilgrimage site. Hospitals were put on alert.
In a clip broadcast live on state television, a bang and screams can be heard. A video published by the Iranian news agency SNN on X shows people apparently fleeing in panic from the suspected explosion site, with smoke rising in the background. Other eyewitness videos show injured people.
#BREAKING
Two explosions occurred on the road leading to ‘Gulzar Shahadai Kerman’ (the graveyard where General Qassem Soleimani is burried), several wounded and at least 20 killed pic.twitter.com/Tv7OeVBite
— SNN (@snntv_en) January 3, 2024
Federal Foreign Office condemns act of terrorism in Iran
The Federal Foreign Office has condemned the attack as an act of terrorism. "We are deeply saddened by the many deaths in today's explosions in #Kerman, including many children," the Federal Foreign Office wrote on X "We condemn this act of terror." The people of Iran deserve a future in peace and security, it continued.
The European Union (EU) has also condemned the bomb attack as an "act of terrorism". "The EU strongly condemns today's bomb attack in the Iranian city of Kerman," said a statement from the European External Action Service. The EU expresses its solidarity "with the Iranian people".
"This act of terrorism has caused a shocking number of civilian deaths and injuries", it continued. The perpetrators must be brought to justice.
Trump had ordered Soleimani's killing
Soleimani was killed on January 3, 2020 in a drone strike near the Iraqi capital Baghdad ordered by then US President Donald Trump. Trump said at the time that he had ordered the drone attack on the former commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' foreign units in response to a series of attacks on US bases in Iraq. Soleimani is revered as a martyr by government supporters. Propaganda pictures of the general are also emblazoned on the walls of buildings in the capital Tehran.
More than a year ago, the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for an attack on a Shiite shrine in the cultural metropolis of Shiraz. More than a dozen people were killed in the attack in October 2022.
To mark the anniversary of Soleimani's death, the Secretary General of the Lebanese Shia organization Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, was due to give a speech on Wednesday evening. Against the backdrop of the killing of a leader of the Islamist Hamas in Lebanon, the speech was eagerly awaited. There are concerns that the violent death of Saleh al-Aruri, deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, could lead to a further escalation of the conflict with Israel.
Hezbollah, which is allied with Hamas and is considered the Islamic Republic's most important non-state ally, had announced its intention to retaliate.
Editor's note: This article has been updated several times.
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The crowd in Kerman paid their respects to General Soleimani on the anniversary of his death, but their pilgrimage was disrupted by two explosions near his grave site. The explosions, which occurred just a few hundred meters away, left at least 20 people dead and many injured. Iran's government labeled the attacks as terrorism.
Donald Trump, then US President, ordered the drone strike that resulted in Soleimani's death in January 2020. Soleimani is revered as a martyr by government supporters, with propaganda images of him displayed on walls in Tehran.
In response to the explosions, Iran's Interior Minister Ahmad Wahidi vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice. He noted that most of the fatalities occurred in the second explosion, and the exact circumstances were still under investigation.
The Federal Foreign Office and the European Union both condemned the bomb attack in Kerman as an act of terrorism, expressing their solidarity with the Iranian people and calling for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.
As a result of the explosions, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi postponed his state visit to Turkey, originally planned for Thursday.
Source: www.stern.de
