Attack kills more than 90: US has reportedly warned Iran about IS terror plans

90 people were killed in the attack
The US has reportedly warned Iran about IS terror plans

January 25, 2024, 10:13 pm

Listen to the article

An attack in Iran in early January killed nearly 100 people. The Islamic State terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the crime. Now the US announces: They have sent an advance terror alert to Iran.

According to media reports, before the deadly suicide attack in Iran in early January, the US government warned Tehran of possible attack plans by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group. “Ahead of the January 3, 2024 ISIS terrorist attack in Kerman, the US government sent a private warning to Iran of a terrorist threat within Iranian territory,” the Wall Street Journal and CNN quoted a US government official as saying.

On January 3, two suicide bombers killed more than 90 people and injured 280 in the city of Kerman. The attack took place at a memorial event in his hometown to commemorate the death of General Qassem Soleimani. It was the worst attack in the Islamic Republic's 45-year history. The IS claimed responsibility for the attack.

It is unclear how the US sent the warning and what exactly was conveyed, according to reports. The United States and Iran do not have formal diplomatic relations. When asked, the US State Department declined to comment. According to a US government representative, such information stems from a “duty to warn”. “We are issuing these warnings in part to ensure that innocent people do not lose their lives in a terrorist attack.”

A year ago, IS claimed responsibility for an attack on a Shia shrine in the cultural metropolis of Shiraz. More than a dozen people were killed in the attack in October 2022. The judiciary publicly hanged two Afghan nationals whom Iran held responsible for the attack.

IS views Iran's majority Shiite population as apostates from Islam and hates them. Shia, the smaller of the two major branches of Islam, is the state religion of the Islamic Republic. A regional branch of IS is active in neighboring Afghanistan, where the group wants to establish a “province” called IS-Khorasan near Pakistan.