ISIS claimed responsibility more than 24 hours after two explosions that killed 103 people at a ceremony held in honor of commander Soleimani.
ISIS, also known as Daesh, has claimed responsibility for two explosions near Qasem Soleimani’s burial site in southern Iran, which left at least 84 dead and 284 injured, marking the deadliest attack in Iran since the revolution of 1979.
The claim was made more than 24 hours after the explosions, with Daesh’s media wing Al-Furqan claiming that two suicide bombers attacked Shiite mourners commemorating the fourth anniversary of Soleimani’s assassination.
Daesh’s statement, titled “And kill them wherever you find them,” identified the attackers and alleged that they detonated their explosive vests among “polytheists” near Soleimani’s grave.
However, no further evidence was provided and the death toll reported by Daesh significantly exceeded Iranian officials’ figures.
Iran has yet to officially respond to Daesh’s claim. Iran’s Interior Minister described the two explosions, the second being more deadly, as occurring in quick succession.
The exact nature of the explosions differs between Daesh and the Iranian media, with the former suggesting suicide bombers and the latter proposing a remote detonation from a suitcase in a car.
Videos from the scene showed chaotic scenes of people running, bloody bodies and ambulances navigating through crowds. Iran declared a day of mourning and President Ebhrahim Raisi canceled a planned trip to Turkey. Amid accusations, President Raisi initially blamed Israel for the explosions, while the Israeli military declined to comment.
Prior to Daesh’s claim, analysts and a US official speculated that the incident resembled a terrorist attack, with the hallmarks of past Daesh actions.
Soleimani, the target of the attack, was a prominent Iranian figure and head of the Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States. He was killed in a US airstrike on January 3, 2020.
