Over 100 killed in Iran from blasts at ceremony honoring slain general | DW News

Over 100 killed in Iran from blasts at ceremony honoring slain general | DW News

We Begin here with some breaking news from Iran where State media say more than a hundred people have been killed in two explosions near the grave of Iran’s top Commander kasim suani several people were also reported wounded in a stampede that followed the blasts in the Southeastern city of kman no MERS had

Gathered at the ceremony to mark four years since suani was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq I’d like to bring in Ali fat and J A founder and director of the think tank a center for Middle East and Global Order he’s based here in Berlin welcome

To the program we have no group yet claiming responsibility uh for this attack but I’m interested to hear your thoughts about what the possible and most likely options might be sure I think uh what is first uh important to note that is that within minutes um Iranian State media have have

Identified uh those bombings uh as having a terrorist uh you know being a terrorist attack which is also quite interesting in itself to be able to identify that within such short notice um and um so basically at this point we cannot know who is uh you know

Behind this attack uh but um it’s very clear that Iranian State media is very much reporting about this incident and um you know portraying is as being um you know carried out by Iran’s enemies probably Israel or the United States uh but as we’ve seen in the past and also

In the four decade history of the Islamic Republic when it comes to those terrorist attacks there’s a lot of uncer itude whether it has been carried out by outside forces or inside forces so uh it is uh you know very difficult to say but at this point it is very clear how the

Kind of propaganda is is being uh spun by the Islam Republic and what is the significance or or is there significance of this happening on the anniversary of the US killing of kasum suani well this exactly where the regime wants to portray that you know Iran’s outside enemies are targeting the people

Who are who are mourning solimani uh but the truth of the matter is that Salman’s popularity is not as strong as the regime aims to portray it um and we’ve seen that uh you know there’s been a lot of anger toward uh you know solman even after his death um

So um I think um it’s um it’s it’s an attempt within a domestic situation that is very difficult um the Iranian regime seems to be strong from the outside but if you look closer at it it is much more vulnerable there’s a lot of problems um

A lot of concerns when it comes to the double elections that are due on March 1st the elections for the Parliament and for the Assembly of experts who should be um actually um you know selecting the next supreme leader and there is also some kind of delusion with Iran’s

Supreme leader I mean just very recently he claimed to have a you know direct conversation with god so I think there is a lot of you know the context and zooming out is here is important here and also the Iranian U you know state has suffered important blows for

Instance the targeting of a of a uh senior um rgc commander in uh Syria by the Israelis so at this point uh when it comes to the incident in K kman it is not uh uh you know one cannot say uh for sure what has been happening but the

Context is very uh important here and of course looking uh at events in the region and and what’s been happening in Gaza and then just in Beirut now do you think that there’s a possibility that this attack is is connected to Israel’s war and G

Well um I think it is this is quite unlikely if you look at Israeli operations inside Iran over the last few years you see a different pattern you see basically the pattern that Israel aims to Target um infrastructure from the regime uh from the military or nuclear infrastructures of the Islamic

Republic and uh also uh you know predicated upon the realization in Israel’s also Israel’s military circles there is a wide Gulf that there is a wide Gulf between State and Society in Iran so it’s very unlikely that at this point in time also in the context of the

War in Gaza um Israel would decide to uh execute such an operation that has been targeting also uh civilians um knowing uh and knowing that this would be counterproductive because it is not aiming to uh you know to uh Propel Iranians to to we come against Israel

Thank you so much for your insights there that is Ali fad the founder and director of the think tank the center for Middle East and Global Order we really appreciate your time today thank you

More than 100 people have died after explosions were heard near the grave of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani on Wednesday, the anniversary of his killing, Iran’s state television has reported. The official death toll has constantly risen in the hours since the incident. More than 150 were also reportedly injured.

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