Neither the USA nor Israel: it is ISIS, 24 hours after the fact, that takes responsibility for the double attack that occurred on Wednesday among the crowd near the tomb of Qassem Soleimani, in the Iranian city of Kerman, which according to a budget revised downwards it caused 84 deaths and 284 injuries. However the worst massacre in the history of the Islamic Republic. The so-called Islamic State claimed on its Telegram channels that the explosions were caused by two of its suicide bombers. But Tehran still continues to maintain that Washington and Israel are behind the terrorists.
Images of demonstrations in various Iranian cities, with participants chanting the usual slogans of ‘death to Israel’ and ‘death to America’, were broadcast on state television. While on the day of the victims’ funerals the authorities invited the population to take to the streets again to express their condemnation against the Israeli and American governments, in this moment of extreme tension due to the Middle Eastern conflict, in which the Islamic Republic supports Hamas and the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.
It is true that other similar attacks have been recognized in past years as the work of the Sunni fundamentalists of ISIS in the heart of the state which represents the global Shiite movement par excellence. In 2022 alone, for example, 15 people were killed in an attack on a shrine in Shiraz. While the most sensational action dates back to 2017, with a double assault on the Parliament of Tehran and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic. It is also true that Soleimani was considered a mortal enemy not only by Israel and the USA – who killed him – but also by ISIS, for the role he played in Iraq and Syria in fighting the self-proclaimed Caliphate. But traditionally the Tehran authorities consider terrorists of any nature – Sunni fundamentalists or separatists from minority ethnic groups – as tools used by Israelis and Americans to weaken the Islamic Republic. The Kerman attacks, said Esmail Qani, Soleimani’s successor as head of the Pasdaran’s Qods Force, were carried out by “agents of the Zionist regime and the United States.”
Since Wednesday, Washington had denied any involvement, saying it was sure that not even Israel had any responsibility, and instead recalling the similarities between the double attack in Kerman and the attacks claimed by ISIS in recent years. Israel, which has been blamed for several targeted killings of nuclear scientists and military commanders in Iran and abroad, had no comment: “We are focused on fighting with Hamas,” army spokesman Daniell Hagari said. According to analysts, moreover, the use of two suicide bombers, confirmed by the Iranian state agency IRNA, reflects the way the Islamic State operates. A “well-informed source” cited by the agency said that, unable to pass the strict security checks to get close to Soleimani’s tomb, the two suicide bombers blew themselves up, one 1.5 kilometers away and the other 2.7 kilometers from the Saheb al-Zaman mosque, where the Pasdaran general is buried. After the harsh condemnation expressed by the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, also came that of the Security Council, which spoke of a “cowardly terrorist attack” and sent condolences to the families of the victims and to the Iranian government. While US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna agreed in a telephone conversation on the need to “avoid an escalation in Lebanon and Iran” as a result of the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, according to what was disclosed by State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
For further information ANSA Agency Soleimani, Khamenei’s man killed by the USA – News – Ansa.it The head of the Qods Force who grew up in the war with Saddam (ANSA)
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2024-01-04 19:40:00
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