As we reported, back-to-back explosions ripped through a crowd of terrorist sympathizers gathered for the memorial of the fourth anniversary of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani's assassination, killing more than 100 and injuring at least 140.

Soleimani was killed at the direction of former President Donald Trump by a U.S. drone strike as his entourage was leaving the Baghdad Airport in January 2020.

The U.S. has denied any involvement in Wednesday's attack and also says it has no indication that Israel was behind it either. White House spokesperson for national security John Kirby told reporters Wednesday that the administration doesn’t know who set the bombs:

We aren't at a point now where we have a lot of great detail on this bombing. 

Certainly our hearts go out to all the innocent victims and their family members, obviously their lives are going to be forever changed by this, but we don't have any more detail in terms of how it happened or who might be responsible for it.

Watch:

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said there is "no indication that Israel was in any way involved" in the deadly explosions in Iran hours after two bombs exploded and killed at least 103 people on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/njHof2luoY

— The Associated Press (@AP) January 3, 2024

The State Department reiterated the point in a separate briefing with reporters:

“It’s too early at least for us to be able to say what might have caused it, but I do want to address some of the irresponsible claims that I have seen circulate and say that, No. 1, the United States was not involved in any way, and any suggestion to the contrary is ridiculous,” [State Dept. spox Matthew ] Miller said. “And No. 2, we have no reason to believe that Israel was involved in this explosion,” he added.

The deadly explosions follow a December Israeli airstrike in Syria that took out Sayyed Reza Mousavi, a senior commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Following that strike, 11 more Iranian commanders were reportedly killed by an attack at the Damascus airport.

Senior Iranian Commander in Syria Killed by an Israeli Airstrike; Iran Vows Retribution

Report: Israel Follows Up Killing of Senior Iranian Commander in Syria, Dispatches 11 More in Damascus

Israel hasn't just been taking out Iranians, though; on January 2, they dispatched a number of Hamas leaders too:

HUGE WIN: Israeli Drone Strike Takes Out Multiple Hamas Leaders Who Were Meeting in Lebanon

The U.S. is even floating the possibility that ISIS or another terror group is behind the explosions because Israel and the secular Iranian rebel group Mujahedin-e-Khalq, which has carried out assassinations within Iran, don't usually resort to mass bombings in public places to get their targets:

Those earlier attacks have mostly been targeted assassinations, often on scientists, or acts of sabotage. Wednesday’s bombing in Kerman does not fit the pattern, US and UK officials argue. It was aimed at mourners marking the fourth anniversary of the US drone killing of Qassem Suleimani, a commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and arch-foe of Israel and US – but the attack was a horrifically blunt instrument, leaving scores of civilians among the dead, so it would be a remarkable departure for [the secular Iranian rebel group] MeK and the Mossad.

It remains to be seen whether any group or state will claim responsibility for the carnage. Expect Iran, however, to continue its bellicose rhetoric and vow revenge on Israel and the United States even if they prove not to have been behind the explosions. 

Meanwhile, concerns that the Israel-Hamas war will spill out into a larger Middle East conflict grow ever larger.