On January 4, the Islamic State group (IS) claimed responsibility for carrying out a twin bomb attack in Iran on the crowd that had gathered to commemorate the death anniversary of top commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in Iraq in 2020 by a U.S. drone. IS made the claim through its channels on Telegram and later released an image on its news outlet Amaq showing two masked men, who were mentioned as responsible for the attacks.
Who is IS, and why did it carry out this attack in Iran?
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The Islamic State is a Sunni Muslim organisation and is composed of local affiliates across the Muslim world. It considers killing apostate Muslims, including Shiites, a serious mission of its organisation.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility on Thursday for carrying out the twin bomb attacks that killed 84 people in Kerman, Iran, during a memorial procession for Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani. They confirmed this through their group’s official Telegram account. However, it has not specified which of its regional organisations was behind these twin bombings.
In a post, this extremist group called this attack a “dual martyrdom operation.” They further went ahead and described how two of their militants had approached this ceremony at the tomb of General Suleimani with explosive belts strapped to their bodies and denotated it. The Islamic State has identified these two attackers as Omar al-Mowahid and Sayefulla al-Mujahid.
The bombing in Iran was the latest bloody attack by the Islamic State targeting the country, which it considers its irredeemable sectarian foe. Along with this, Iran is a majority-Shiite country and led by a theocratic government in which Shiite clerics are in charge.
Along with this, Iran and a U.S.-led coalition had a hand in defeating the IS group in Syria and Iraq. It was General Suleimani who had built a network of Shiite militias there to repel the IS group and had personally directed efforts to fight it. The general was a widely revered and feared Iranian military officer who was the architect of an Iranian-led and funded alliance of Shiite groups across the Middle East. He was assassinated four years ago in a drone attack initiated by America.
Previous attacks by IS on Iran:
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The Islamic State, Afghanistan, which affiliates with ISIS-Khorasan, has repeatedly threatened Iran over what it says is its polytheism and apostasy. It has claimed responsibility for several such previous terrorist attacks on Iran in the past.
The most recent one happened in October 2022, when a gunman shot 13 people at a shrine in the city of Shiraz. After this, the Islamic State released a statement claiming responsibility for that attack. Along with that, it said it had aimed to kill as a continuation of an ancient clash between Sunnis and Shiites.
The Shiraz shooting was followed by the twin attacks in June 2017 in Tehran. In this incident, some gunmen opened fire inside the Parliament of Iran, and suicide bombers simultaneously struck near the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who was Iran’s former supreme leader and founder of Iran’s clerical state. These attacks claimed the lives of seventeen people.
The IS group had also claimed responsibility for the September 2018 attack in the city of Ahvaz. In this incident, some gunmen shot at an ongoing military parade. In this attack, 25 people lost their lives.
The Iranian authorities have also previously released statements about them having thwarted at least a dozen more Islamic State attacks on their country.
Claims by IS have removed the initial doubts that Israel was behind the twin bombings in Iran:
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Some Iranian leaders had previously blamed Israel for the twin explosions in their country. It was believed that Israel was trying to push the Middle East into a regional conflict.
However, Western officials had cast doubt on that theory. They said that although Israel is believed to have regularly carried out covert operations in Iran, they have typically been targeted against specific individuals, Iranian scientists or officials, or strikes to destroy nuclear or weapons facilities.
After IS took responsibility for the twin explosions, American officials said that it was probably seizing an opportunity to hit its longtime enemy, Iran.
Iran held a national day of mourning this Thursday to honour victims of the twin explosions, which occurred on a highly symbolic day, the fourth anniversary of General Suleimani’s death. Suleimani was the powerful military leader in Iran and was regarded as a malign force in the West. He is revered among many Iranians, especially by those who support the government.
