Iran arrests suspects in Islamic State attack in Kerman

Iranian authorities have arrested a number of suspects in relation to the blasts that killed 89 people at the grave of General Qassem Soleimani on Wednesday, 3 January, in the city of Kerman, Iranian media reported.

Deputy interior minister Majid Mirahmadi said five people had been arrested in five different provinces, according to state news agency IRNA and semi-official agency Tasnim.

The news of the arrests, provided without further information, came as the victims of those attacks — which were claimed by the so-called 'Islamic State' (IS) — were laid to rest.

Iranian media reported that 30 of the victims had been under the age of 18, and nine were 10 or younger.

Iran still pointing the finger at US and Israel

The funeral for Wednesday's victims took place at the Emam Ali mosque in Kerman, with President Ebrahim Raisi in attendance.

"Be sure that the power of initiative is in the hands of our God-ordained troops," Raisi said, once again vowing revenge for the killings.

But despite IS already having claimed responsibility, there were still suggestions from Iranian officials that the United States and Israel had a role to play.

IS "has disappeared nowadays," said Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami during the funeral ceremony, arguing the jihadis "only act as mercenaries" for US and Israeli interests.

Middle East tensions

The IS attacks highlight the complex web of animosities raging in the region, with Shiite-majority Iran supporting the Shiite militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria as well as the Sunni militant group Hamas in Gaza against Israel, while also fighting the Sunni Islamists of IS.

Soleimani was a former head of the Quds Force — the foreign operations arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards — that had been supporting the fight against IS in Iraq, where he was killed by a US strike in 2020.

Mourners on Friday, 5 January, waved both Iranian and Hezbollah flags.

President Raisi also praised the 'Al-Aqsa Flood' — Hamas' name for its operations on 7 October that killed some 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, and saw about 240 taken hostage.

Hezbollah, Hamas and IS are all designated as terrorist groups by the US, Germany and Israel, among others.