Hussein Salami, the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, vowed on Friday to avenge the deadly suicide bombing that killed dozens and wounded hundreds near a cemetery in Iran where a ceremony was being held to mark the 2020 death of the country's top commander Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. drone attack
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"We will avenge the blood of the martyrs," he told mourners at a mass funeral event of the attack's victims. "The U.S. was defeated in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen and its siege was broken. Israel tried to protect itself but the Al-Aqsa Flood destroyed its efforts," he adds referring to the name Hamas assigned to its October 7 invasion of Israel and the consequent war.
Iranian officials have sought to pin the blame for the attack on Israel. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack on Thursday.
Iranian state television reported a first and then a second explosion during the ceremony in the southeastern city of Kerman. Security forces behind the organization of the event were reportedly among the casualties of the second blast.
Iran has been supporting and arming various Shia militias in Iraq and Syria to fight the Islamic State and has also carried out direct actions against the vicious terrorist group through the IRGC and its elite Quds Force, also under Soleimani.