TEHRAN, IRAN – Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi joined mourners in Kerman on Friday for the funeral of the 89 people the Islamic State group said were killed in two attacks, state media said.

Suicide attacks targeting crowds broke out in the southern city where scores of people gathered on Wednesday to commemorate the fourth anniversary of his death in a US drone strike.

State television said 89 people were killed in the attack. This means that the number of victims is higher than before, after several wounded people had already died.
The victims included several women and children and at least a dozen Afghan nationals, it said.

Despite the Islamic State (IS) group claiming responsibility, Iranian officials have continued to hint at Israeli and U.S. involvement.

ISIS is “disappeared today,” Revolutionary Guard chief Hossein Salami said during the funeral ceremony, arguing that the jihadists were acting “only as mercenaries” for U.S. and Israeli interests.

The United States rejected any suggestion that it or its ally Israel were behind the bombings, while Tehran’s arch-enemy Israel did not comment.

Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi told state television that “some people involved in the attack were arrested,” without elaborating.

Salami promised that Iran “will find you wherever you are,” referring to any IS members behind the bombing.

And Raisi said revenge for the killings would come at a “time and place to be determined by our armed forces.”

In his remarks, the president also praised the Palestinian militant group Hamas for its deadly attacks on Israel on October 7, which triggered a relentless offensive in the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by the Tehran-backed movement.

“We know that the ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ operation will bring about the end of the Zionist regime,” he said, using Hamas’ name for the war that is now nearing its fourth month.

Friday’s funeral took place at the Emam Ali Mosque in Kerman, where crowds gathered in front of dozens of coffins draped in the Iranian flag, according to state media.

Mourners waved the national flag as well as the yellow flag of Tehran’s ally in Lebanon, Hezbollah, and portraits of Soleimani.

President Raisi, who arrived in Kerman to attend the funerals, also visited Soleimani’s grave, state television reported.

Iranian authorities called for mass rallies after funerals and Friday prayers to protest the bombings.

In a statement posted on Telegram on Thursday, the Islamic State group said two of its members “activated their explosive vests” at the gathering.

Iranian investigators had already confirmed that at least the first explosion was the work of a “suicide bomber” and assumed that the trigger for the second was “very likely another suicide bomber,” the official IRNA news agency had previously said, citing an “informed Source” reports. .

Soleimani, a staunch foe of the jihadist group, led the Quds Force, the Revolutionary Guard’s foreign operations arm, and oversaw military operations across the Middle East.