Two explosions struck a mosque in Iran’s southern city of Kerman on Wednesday, December 3. The explosions targeted a large gathering of people who were there to commemorate the assassination anniversary of the Revolutionary Guard’s top commander, Qasem Suleimani. Early reports show that at least 100 people were killed and more than 140 others were injured.
According to local reports, people were headed towards the main tomb at Saheb-al-Zaman mosque as part of the commemoration ceremony when the explosions happened. Mr. Soleimani was killed in a US airstrike at Baghdad airport in Iraq in 2020.
The Iranian state news agency, IRNA, said that according to provincial authorities in Kerman, “the blasts were caused by terrorist attacks.” IRNA reports that casualties rose to 103 as several people succumbed to their initial injuries. The death toll could rise even higher since many of the 141 wounded are in critical condition.
Qasem Soliemani led the Quds Force, the overseas arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Perceived as one of the closest people to Iran’s ailing and aging supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Soleimani was one of the most powerful figures and the key architect of its regional military presence. Leading the Quds Force for several decades, he had cultivated proxies across the Middle East, from Iran’s neighboring Iraq during the US military presence to the Gaza stripe where the Islamic Republic pumps hundreds of millions annually to fund Hamas’ operations.
Soleimani was a critical figure in saving Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria in the face of public revolt in the Arab Spring, international military campaign, and ISIS terror insurgency. He had also helped Hezbollah in Lebanon grow into the rather indispensable military and political force that it is today and became the key patron of the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have been targeting shipping containers in the Red Sea in the wake of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
A sworn enemy of the West, Soelimani for so long was considered too powerful to take down, many fearing that targeting him would immediately trigger an Iranian response that could plunge the Middle East into a deadly conflict. However, in 2020, when US President Donald Trump ordered an airstrike that killed him along with 9 other top Iranian officials including the Deputy Head of Popular Mobilization Force (PMF) Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, Iran barely responded with the severity many expected given Soleimani’s critical significance for the country’s regional power.
No group has thus far claimed responsibility for the explosions. But Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said that the perpetrators of the explosions will receive a crushing response from Iran’s security and intelligence forces in the shortest time possible. “Everything is under control. There’s nothing to worry about, as our forces are prepared and vigilant and will slap the enemies in their faces,” he added.
It is yet to be seen what Iran’s response to the attack that seems to be the deadliest in recent memory will be. Iran has often vowed vengeance in the aftermath of attacks by groups such as ISIS or Sunni insurgencies that targeted its citizens or assassinations by alleged Israeli operatives on its top officials. In action, however, Iran’s response has been slower and less severe than expected.
In retaliation to a decade of assassinations and covert activities attributed to Israel, Iran has been accused of attempting to target Israeli citizens in Turkey and Europe. The Times of Israel reported last year that Iran was still planning attacks on Israeli citizens in Thailand, a popular tourist destination for Israelis. Yet, these plots have mostly failed, and hardline critics of the Iranian government consider them inadequate responses to the loss of senior Iranian figures and civilians.
The recent assassination of Sayyed Razi Mousavi, another senior Iranian commander by Israel in Syria, has triggered a new debate in Iran about the suitable course of action. Iranian authorities and allied militant groups in the region have pledged retaliation.
The Iranian public initially responded with anger and protest to the killing of Mousavi. As reported by Mehr News Agency, a gathering of hardline students took place in front of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, demanding a “painful response” to the assassination, echoing the language previously used by Iran’s supreme leader after Soleimani’s death in 2020.
In November 2020, the high-ranking Iranian nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed on the outskirts of Tehran, a group of Iranian citizens gathered in the city of Qom and harshly criticized political and military leaders for not taking decisive action in retaliation. They held placards demanding “real severe revenge,” underscoring increasing dissatisfaction within the regime’s religious base.
