Two explosions at Kerman ceremony marking anniversary of killing of Qassem Suleimani raise Middle East tensions further

More than 95 Iranians were killed and scores more injured in a terrorist attack at a ceremony in Iran to commemorate the assassination of a top general, further heightening tensions in the increasingly volatile Middle East.

The explosions came at a memorial ceremony in Iran marking the fourth anniversary of the killing of Qassem Suleimani, the head of Iran’s al-Quds force, and it was not clear whether either of Suleimani’s principal regional adversaries – Israel or Islamic State – were responsible for the carnage.

Iran’s new minister of interior, the hardliner Ahmad Vahidi, did not immediately attribute blame for the attack and no side claimed responsibility for the deadliest single terrorist incident since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. The US state department said it had no reason to believe Israel was involved.

An early death toll of 103 was revised down, but Iran’s health minister, Bahram Einollahi, said many of the wounded were in critical condition and the toll could rise.

  • @[email protected]
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    316 months ago

    I’m not saying it’s Mossad, but it’s probably Mossad. There are much easier targets than the memorial for Qassem Suleimani: this is sending a message to Iran.

      • @[email protected]
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        136 months ago

        Are we doing that thing for the first day or so when we argue if it is intelligence, false flag, religious, ethnic supremacists, or mental illness and everyone picks the one they like the best?

    • @[email protected]
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      16 months ago

      Suleimani’s enemies have safety in numbers. Kurds, Saudis or Iraqis are some of the first that come to mind

    • @[email protected]
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      06 months ago

      The amount of groups who have the reasons and means to pull this off is long. I agree that Mossad is high on the list, but Iraq is not far away from the top place, either. Then there are groups who did not like the generals clan, protesters against Iran in general, etc, etc.

      The whole region is a shit show waiting for the ventilator to fly through.

      • AreaSIX
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        86 months ago

        Why would you write nonsense like this when you obviously know nothing at all about Iran or regional dynamics? Iraq is a close ally of Iran, so no, they’re not “not far away from the top” of Iran’s regional opponents. Also, those who don’t like the general’s ‘clan’? WTF are you babbling about? Iran is not a clan-based society the way you seem to believe it is. I’m Iranian and the ‘clan’ of Soleimani is not a subject I’ve heard discussed ever. You seem to think the garbage spread by the Bushie’s in the 2000’s about the region is how things actually work. It’s a pathetically uninformed attempt at sounding smart. Read a book maybe?

        There are three candidates for these attacks. Odds all clearly point towards the Israelis as the top suspects. However, it could also have been carried out by the MEK, or the Islamic State Khorasan. But even if it did, the likelihood is high that Mossad played a coordinating role in the operation. There’s zero chance Soleimani’s ‘clan’, whatever the fuck that refers to, was a factor in this terrorist attack.

        • @[email protected]
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          6 months ago

          If you believe so…

          Update: looks like IS claimed this. As I said, Mossad is on top of the list, but not alone by far.

        • AdeptusPrimaris
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          6 months ago

          What’s the view your side on what the US and Israel are doing?

          It seems to me that the US keeps trying to link absolutely anything done by Qassam brigades and Hezbollah and others to Iran. They’re constantly mentioning Iran. And they’re trying to make sure people think of Hamas as the same as Isis, when they’re totally different ideologically.

          I feel like the reason that the US is delaying any de-escalation by Israel is that the US is hoping that Israel attacks Iran and Lebanon and that those countries respond. And by doing so it gives the US an excuse to attack and take control of those countries under the guise of helping an ally.

          There was a really intersting opinion piece that made a lot of sense to me, I’ll try to link it.

          https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/01/prof-michael-hudson-world-predictions-for-2024-usa-un-palestine-russia-and-brics.html

          • @[email protected]
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            16 months ago

            The US is overestimating Iran’s influence on those groups to create consent for a war with Iran (and gullible people eat that up like it’s mom’s spaghetti)

            • AdeptusPrimaris
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              -26 months ago

              Exactly. It like watching the US back in the 2000’s constantly talk about WMDs as a pretext to attack and destabilise the middle east once again.

          • @[email protected]
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            6 months ago

            It seems to me that the US keeps trying to link absolutely anything done by Qassam brigades and Hezbollah and others to Iran.

            This is because Iran funds them.

            https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm761

            Iran explicitly wants the destruction of Israel and Israel is a US ally, so it makes sense the US would not appreciate Iran funding terrorists to attack Israel.

            It’s pretty simple, really.

            And by doing so it gives the US an excuse to attack and take control of those countries

            This is just nonsense. The US controls neither Iraq nor Afghanistan so its absurd to suggest they’d want to control Iran or Lebanon.