Dozens Dead in Explosions at Memorial for Top Iranian Commander Killed in US Drone Strike

A pair of explosions at the site of a memorial service for a top Iranian military official have killed at least 100 people and left more than 170 injured as attendees scrambled to escape the scene, according to Iranian media reports.

Two explosive-rigged suitcases were triggered remotely as thousands of Iranians gathered to mark the fourth anniversary of the death of Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s international operations, the Quds Force, who was killed near Baghdad airport by a U.S. drone, Iran’s Tasmin news agency reported.

Tasmin’s reporter at the scene in the central city of Kerman said many bodies had been blown apart by the explosions. Graphic video circulating online verified the gruesome aftermath.

The provincial security chief said the explosion was “an act of terrorism,” multiple Iranian news agencies reported. Some reports say the explosions may have set off gas canisters, amplifying the blast. 

No one immediately claimed credit for the bombing, but early speculation has centered on Iranian opposition forces. Israel has carried out assassinations and other operations in Iran, but has not targeted large numbers of civilians.

The high civilian casualty count in the cemetery bombings could easily provoke a swift and devastating attack from Iran, something Israel may not be ready to repel as it focuses its military on eradicating Hamas in Gaza. 

The explosions come a day after an Israeli drone killed a senior leader of the Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas, Saleh Al-Arouri, while he was meeting with leaders of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Beirut.

“We’re in the middle of World War III against Iran-led radical Islam, whose tentacles are already in Europe,” Israel Katz, Israel's new foreign minister said on Tuesday.

Known as Iran’s “shadow commander,” Soleimani — who had led the Quds Force since 1998 — was considered one of Iran’s most powerful men, and the brains behind the country’s efforts to influence regional policy through the use of proxy militias in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and the occupied Palestinian territories. 

US officials said they believe that during the Iraq war, it was Soleimani’s units that provided Iraqi insurgents with specially made bombs that could penetrate armor, a deadly weapon used against American forces.

In the wake of his killing, which was authorized by then-President Trump just after the new year in 2020, the U.S. said Soleimani and his Quds Force troops were “responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more.”

Soleimani was “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region,” the U.S. statement added. 

His death at the hands of an American drone made him even more of a hero at home, and at his funeral in 2020, a stampede broke out that killed at least 56 people.

Soleimani’s assassination was seen as a blow to the hardline Islamic regime, and Iran has been vowing for years to take revenge for his killing.

But its feeble efforts so far have earned it rising ire at home, where the regime has been increasingly targeted by separatist groups. Since the assassination, hundreds of thousands of young Iranians have taken to the streets to protest the country’s strict Islamic moral code, including the forced wearing of veils by women.