Dozens killed in Iran after explosion at ceremony honoring slain general

At least 73 people were killed and another 170 injured Wednesday after two explosions in the Iranian city of Kerman during a ceremony marking the death of Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who was killed by the U.S. in 2020.

The first explosion was reported just a couple of hundred feet from the tomb of Soleimani, according to the Iranian state-run media outlet Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

The second blast occurred slightly more than a half-mile from the tomb site, IRNA reported.

It wasn’t immediately clear what the cause of the blasts was, whether a gas cylinder explosion or a strike.

However, Kerman’s deputy governor for security Rahman Jalali said later Wednesday the explosions were a terrorist attack, without elaborating on the origin of the attacks, according to IRNA.

Iranian-backed militant groups are fighting with the U.S. and Israel across the Middle East, and tensions have soared in the region. But American and Israeli officials are unlikely to have ordered a direct attack on Iranian soil.

The city of Kerman, in southeastern Iran, is the hometown of Soleimani, who died Jan. 3, 2020, from a U.S. strike in Iraq.

Soleimani was a top general in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and is seen as a martyr who died fighting the U.S. government. The memorial service was described as crowded in Iranian media.