The intent couldn’t have been more clear, or the action so deadly. On Wednesday, two bomb blasts—within 15 minutes of each other and separated by about more than a km—tore into a procession organised to commemorate the fourth death anniversary of General Qasem Soleimani near a military cemetery in the Iranian city of Kerman.
The twin blasts, intended to cause maximum damage, killed at least 84 people and injured at least 280.
On January 3, 2020, Gen Soleimani was killed in a precision strike by US killer drones near Baghdad airport.
A legendary figure in Iran who headed the al-Quds Force, the most elite unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Force (IRGC), Gen Soleimani was considered close to Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei. His value also lay in the fact that he cobbled together pro-Iran militias under an umbrella outfit in Iraq, Yemen, Syria and elsewhere which included the Houthis.
While no one has claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s bombings, it has spawned differing narratives on who could have placed the bombs. Iran pointed fingers at the US-led coalition and Mossad—Israel’s secretive spy agency.
Mohammad Jamshidi, political deputy to the Iranian president, wrote on X, (formerly Twitter): “Make no mistake. The responsibility for this crime lies with the US and Zionist regimes (Israel) and terrorism is just a tool.”
There are enough reasons for Iran to blame Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Domestic political pressure has been piling on him and his tenure will stay intact only till the conflict with Hamas continues. And end of the conflict will see Netanyahu out of office and may even land him in jail.
There is considerable anger against Netanyahu for the massive intelligence failure that led to the October 7 assault by Hamas militants from across Gaza. The failure has already been magnified by Netanyahu’s daft handling of the hostage crisis as well as by the fact that many Israeli hostages have died in Israeli bombings and friendly fire.
The blasts come amid surging tension in the Red Sea trade route where pro-Iran Houthis have launched attacks on merchant and trade ships that ply on one of the world’s most busiest sea routes.
A US-led multinational security initiative--Operation Prosperity Guardian--was launched on December 19 to stave off the Houthi attacks turning the Red Sea area into a much militarised zone. Besides the US, other countries in the operation include the UK, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, and Spain and a few other countries.
On the other hand, western powers say the Islamic State (IS) terrorists or Sunni radicals could also be behind Wednesday’s blasts.
With Iran promising retaliatory action, the possibility of it being drawn into a non-holds barred conflict with Israel and the US-led coalition cannot be ruled out which will result in a widespread escalation of the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
On Tuesday, Israel had killed Saleh Arouri and five others in a drone strike in a southern Beirut suburb. Arouri was the founder of Hamas’ military wing and the deputy political head.
