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Crowds chanted "revenge, revenge" in state TV footage of the
funerals in the city of Kerman, the scene of Wednesday's
explosions, the bloodiest such attacks in Iran since the 1979
Islamic Revolution.
Nearly 100 people were killed in Wednesday's assaults at a
memorial for top commander Qassem Soleimani, who was
assassinated in Iraq in 2020 by a U.S. drone.
The explosions came as regional tensions soared and Israel's war
against Hamas in Gaza neared the three-month mark.
Interior minister Ahmad Vahidi told state TV a number of
suspects had been arrested.
"Our country's capable intelligence agencies have found very
good clues regarding elements involved in the terrorist
explosions in Kerman and a section of those who had a role in
this incident have been arrested," he said without elaborating.
Islamic State said on Thursday two of its members had detonated
explosive belts in the crowd that had gathered for Soleimani's
memorial in the southeastern city.
"We will find you wherever you are," Revolutionary Guards
commander Major-General Hossein Salami said at the funeral in
Kerman's Imam Ali religious centre.
"Our enemies can see Iran's power and the whole world knows its
strength and capabilities," President Ebrahim Raisi said in a
televised address. "Our forces will decide on the place and time
to take action".
In 2022, Islamic State claimed responsibility for a deadly
attack on a Shi'ite shrine in Iran that killed 15 people, while
earlier attacks claimed by Islamic State include twin bombings
in 2017 that targeted Iran's parliament and the tomb of the
Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
(dubai.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com; Editing by Ros Russell and
Andrew Heavens)
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