The Islamic State claims responsibility for the deadly Iran attack, and Tehran vows revenge.

In a memorial service for senior leader Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in 2020 in Iraq by an American drone, the Islamic State claimed responsibility on Thursday for two bombs that occurred in Iran and left close to 100 people dead and several others injured.

The militant Sunni Muslim organization claimed in a message released on its affiliate Telegram channels that two I.S. fighters had set off their bomb belts among the people who had gathered at the cemetery in Kerman, southeast Iran, on Wednesday to commemorate Soleimani’s death anniversary.

Tehran had declared that the blasts were the work of “terrorists” and promised retaliation for the most horrific explosions since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Two hundred eighty-four other people, including women and children, were injured in the twin explosions.

Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber warned reporters in Kerman that “the soldiers of Soleimani will meted out to them a very strong retaliation.”

The initial explosion at the cemetery in Kerman, Soleimani’s hometown, “was the result of a suicide bomber’s action,” an unidentified source had earlier told the state news agency IRNA.

According to the source, “the second blast’s cause was probably the same,” IRNA was informed.

In a statement, the U.N. Security Council denounced the “cowardly terrorist attack” that occurred in Kerman on Wednesday and offered its sympathies to the families and the Iranian government of those killed.

On state television, people could be seen yelling “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” in a dozen Iranian cities, including Kerman.

According to state television, Iranian officials have called for widespread demonstrations on Friday, the day of the twin explosion victims’ burial.

The formidable Revolutionary Guards Corps of Iran deemed attacks “aimed at creating insecurity and seeking revenge against the nation’s deep love and devotion to the Islamic Republic” cowardly.

The commander of the Guards in Kerman refuted reports of a gunshot on Thursday in the official media.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has denounced the “heinous and inhumane crime” of Wednesday. Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, promised retaliation for the bombs.

The Islamic State took credit for a fatal attack on a Shi’ite shrine in Iran in 2022 that left 15 people dead.

The Islamic State

The Islamic State has already claimed credit for assaults such as the twin bombings that took place in 2017 and targeted the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, and Iran’s parliament.

On Wednesday, the U.S. denied having anything to do with the blasts and stated it had no reason to think Israel was involved. According to the report, the explosions seemed to be “a terrorist attack” similar to ones that the Islamic State had previously carried out.

Tehran frequently accuses the U.S. and Israel, its two greatest adversaries, of providing support to violent anti-Iranian organizations that have attacked the Islamic Republic in the past. Ethnic Arab separatists and Baluchi terrorists have also carried out attacks in Iran.

Following the U.S. drone strike on Soleimani’s life on January 3, 2020, at the Baghdad airport, Tehran retaliated by striking two U.S. military bases in Iraq, bringing the U.S. and Iran dangerously close to a full-scale war.

Soleimani oversaw covert operations overseas as the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) special Quds force, and he played a significant role in the country’s protracted effort to expel American soldiers from the Middle East.

Israel’s assault on Hamas terrorists in Gaza, which it launched in retribution for their October 7th rampage into southern Israel, has escalated tensions between Iran and Israel as well as with the U.S., its backer.

In the entrance to the Red Sea, one of the busiest maritime channels in the world, the Houthi militia of Yemen, supported by Iran, has attacked ships that they claim have connections to Israel.

Because Washington supports Israel, extremists backed by Iran have attacked American soldiers in Iraq and Syria. In response, the U.S. military has launched airstrikes in retaliation.