Islamic State Claims Responsibility For Deadly Iran Blasts

(Bloomberg) -- Islamic State claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack in Iran that killed scores of people and threatened to further inflame tensions in the Middle East. 

The terrorist group was behind the blasts near the grave of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, according to a statement on the group’s Telegram channel. Tehran said at least 84 people were dead and 220 others wounded, after reducing its estimate of fatalities several times.

Iran had said the blasts were aimed at punishing its stance against Israel’s invasion of Gaza, but US officials said from the start that they had the hallmarks of an operation by a group such as Islamic State.

Islamic State, an extremist Sunni group, is ideologically opposed to Shia-dominated Iran, regarding Shias as infidels.

The explosions took place within 15 minutes of each other outside the graveyard where a crowd of people participated in a ceremony to commemorate the death of Soleimani in a US drone strike in Iraq’s capital in 2020. The blasts were caused by bombs planted in a suitcase and a car near the graveyard entrance and detonated remotely, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

The attacks came a day after Israel was believed to be behind the killing of a key leader of the Iran-backed Hamas militant group in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, but US officials said there was no reason to suspect Israeli involvement in the Iran bombings. 

Still, the attacks marked a new peak in regional tensions since Israel began its war against Hamas after the group — designated as a terrorist organization by the US and European Union — infiltrated Israel on Oct. 7 and killed about 1,200 people. Since the conflict began, Houthis — an Iranian proxy force in Yemen — have fired missiles and drones against commercial ships in the Red Sea, while Hezbollah has launched attacks against Israel from its bases in Lebanon. 

(Updates Iran’s estimate of death count starting in first paragraph)

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