A spokesman for the country’s emergency department was quoted by Iran’s state-run news agency as saying 73 people were killed and 170 were injured.
The deputy governor of Kerman, the slain general’s hometown, said the incident was a “terrorist attack,” according to Iran’s official news agency IRNA. The first explosion was near Soleimani’s burial place, and the second was near the shrine.
Before the blasts, the state-run live broadcast had shown thousands of mourners filling the street, moving calmly in a procession. After the attack, it broadcast video of people running frantically and men wearing EMT uniforms surging into the crowd.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Soleimani oversaw a network of Iranian-supported proxy groups across the Middle East that helped project Tehran’s military and political power in places such as Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. The blasts Wednesday came as Iran-backed militant groups are involved in an intensifying confrontation with Israel and its principal backer, the United States, during Israel’s war in Gaza.
Kareem Fahim contributed reporting from Istanbul.
