Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a funeral ceremony in Kerman, Iran on Friday. — Reuters TEHRAN, Jan 05 (Agencies): Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has promised to retaliate after twin bombings in the city of Kerman this week killed and wounded many people attending a memorial for top General Qassem Soleimani.
On Friday, Raisi addressed thousands of mourners who had gathered in Kerman, about 820km (510 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran.
Iran's president and the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp on Friday vowed revenge at the funeral for the victims of twin Islamic State bombings two days earlier.
Nearly 100 people were killed at a memorial in the city of Kerman on Wednesday for top commander Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in Iraq in 2020 by a US drone.
Islamic State said on Thursday that two of its members had detonated explosive belts in the crowd that had gathered at the cemetery in the southeastern city.
"We will find you wherever you are," IRGC commander Major-General Hossein Salami said at the funeral, referring to Islamic State.
In a televised speech, President Ebrahim Raisi said: "Our enemies can see Iran's power and the whole world knows its strength and capabilities. Our forces will decide on the place and time to take action".
Read More than 100 killed in terrorist attacks near tomb of Iranian Guards' Soleimani
State TV showed a dense crowd at the Imam Ali religious centre in Kerman where families wept over rows of coffins wrapped in the Iranian flag. Mourners shouted "revenge, revenge", "Death to America" and "Death to Israel".
Tehran often accuses Israel and the United States of backing anti-Iran militant groups that have carried out attacks in the past.
Meanwhile, the Islamic State group (IS) has said it carried out a bomb attack in Iran on crowds marking the anniversary of spymaster Qasem Soleimani's assassination by the US.
The attack in Kerman in southern Iran killed 84 people and wounded many more.
The death toll was revised down on Thursday morning by the head of Iran's emergency services from an earlier figure of 95.
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