Iran’s Supreme Leader vows ‘harsh response’ after explosions kill 95 | DW News

Iran’s Supreme Leader vows ‘harsh response’ after explosions kill 95 | DW News

Iran’s supreme leader has vowed to carry out a harsh response after twin explosions in the country’s South killed at least 95 people the blasts happened near the grave of former top Commander casim solmani mourners had gathered for a ceremony to mark four years since he was killed in a US drone strike there’s

Been no claim of responsibility yet for the explosions the aftermath of a blast That Shook the city of keramon and Iran South releasing shrapnel into the screaming crowd local media captured the moment people started running as they heard the first explosion go off another blast nearby followed some minutes

Later thousands were attending a ceremony honoring the prominent Iranian General Kum suani killed in a US strike in 2020 but the US says it had no role in this attack and that Israel didn’t either it’s too early at least for us to be able to say what might have caused it

But I do want to address some of the irresponsible claims that I have seen circulate and say that number one the United States was not involved in any way and any suggestion to the contrary is ridiculous and number two we have no reason to believe that Israel was

Involved in this explosion it’s believed to be the deadliest attack in Iran in over 40 years there were reports of a stampede that injured several people as they tried to run away the UN responded with calls for accountability the Secretary General strongly condemns the attack today on a

Memorial ceremony in Kerman City in the Islamic Republic of Iran which reportedly killed more than 100 people and injured many more the Secretary General calls for those respons responsible to be held accountable the regime in tan has labeled the explosions as a terrorist attack while Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah K vowed to

Retaliate promising a harsh response for more on this I’m joined Now by Alex vatanka Iran expert at the Middle East Institute in Washington DC welcome to DW so the United States has denied being responsible for these blasts so who could have carried them out then um well to be honest it’s too early

To uh point the finger at any one group uh what we have seen so far uh in terms of Iranian announcements we’ve had the Iranian minister of interior making the claim that the US and Israel were involved but then this is sort of almost generic it’s almost a knee-jerk reaction

That you often hear from senior leaders without providing the evidence as I said it’s a political statement not reflecting any kind of serious investigation um one thing I do note uh is that Ali F the supreme leader in his statement reacting to the uh bombings did not point a finger at either United

States Israel or anybody else for that matter and I think that is probably a reflection of fact that the Iranian authorities right now A do not know who’s behind and be they don’t know what their next step ought to be all right Alex but they did say the Iranian

Government did uh call it a terror attack and they did vow to respond harshly so what form might that response take then well I mean obviously we need to know who who would have been behind it it really uh qu would shape Iran’s next

Steps I mean if it’s uh you know if it’s external entity like say say Israel requires a different sort of calculations on the part of tan then say a domestic opponents of the regime look these two bombings today happen in the province of Kerman which is relatively

In the southeast of the country not far from the Iranian border with Pakistan and the province of beluchistan which is next to Kerman province is a region known for militancy for organized crime and at times even militant jihadist Sunni anti-regime operatives just two week ago 11 Iranian officers were killed

By a jihadist group so there are actually entities inside of Iran’s borders that could have been behind it but again I want to go back to what I said it’s really early Iran has a long list of domestic opponents and external opponents it could be domestic it could

Be external it could be a combination of both we have to wait and see all right despite what you’re saying there um this these attacks did happen at a memorial for kasum salmani who was assassinated by the US four years ago so do you think there’s much significance in uh where

The attacks took place oh absolutely uh but you know uhum sumani as you point out was assassinated by the Trump Administration four years ago but he had many enemies he had enemies inside of Iran he had enemies in the region including as we’ve discussed so far the state of Israel an enemy of

Of solman a country that Sani about to uh eradicate from the face of uh the map so um yes there’s a symbolism here no doubt about it uh but I think it’s too early to to sort of make the conclusion because of what’s happening in Gaza and

The timing uh this is somehow linked to Iran’s bigger Regional plan kasum suani was the architect of Iran’s forward defense supplying weapons and training to groups like Hamas isbah and so on it might very well be that they are connected but it could also be a case of opportunism by an Iranian opposition

Group in this case most likely the jihadist that operate in the Southeast that have decades long track record of targeting Iranian officials again I want to bore you but we just don’t know enough to be able to conclusions yet thanks for your insights Alex Alex vatanka from the Middle East Institute in Washington

DC thank you

Iran’s Supreme Leader has vowed to carry out a ‘harsh response’ after twin explosions in the country’s south killed at least 95 people. The blasts happened near the grave of former top commander Qassem Soleimani. Mourners had gathered for a ceremony to mark four years since he was killed in a US drone strike. There’s been no claim of responsibility yet for the explosions.

Chapters:
0:00 Explosions in Iran
2:17 Alex Vatanka, Iran expert at Middle East Institute

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