On 3 January 2024, a commemorative ceremony marking the assassination of Qasem Soleimani at his grave in eastern Kerman, Iran, was attacked by two bomb explosions.

Soleimani held a position of significant influence in Iran, widely considered the second most powerful figure in the country after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

As leader of the Quds Force, the overseas operations arm of the IRGC, he played a key role in shaping Iranian policy across the region.

Soleimani was responsible for overseeing clandestine missions and providing guidance, funding, weapons, intelligence, and logistical support to allied governments and armed groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah.

[13] Into the 2020s, the Islamic State and other Sunni extremist groups have launched similar attacks in the Shiite-majority country, including a mass shooting that killed 13 people in Shiraz in 2022.

"[16] Despite the U.S. warning, Iran was ultimately unable to stop the 3 January ISIS attack, which killed at least 84 people and was the deadliest such incident in the country since the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

[16] The twin explosions struck a procession going towards Soleimani's grave in the Golzar Shohada (Garden of Martyrs) cemetery,[18] around the Saheb al-Zaman mosque, to commemorate the fourth anniversary of his death.

Reza Fallah, the head of the provincial Red Crescent, stated that their rapid response teams were evacuating the injured, but faced challenges due to waves of crowds obstructing roads.

[31] A mass funeral for the victims of the attack was held at the Emam Ali mosque in Kerman on 5 January, with Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and IRGC commander Hossein Salami in attendance.

[37] The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence has announced the detention of a key figure believed to be behind the deadly terrorist bombings that struck the city of Kerman earlier this year.

According to the statement, the intelligence obtained from Quetta has played a "significant role" in uncovering "many Takfiri conspiracies" and identifying other major elements involved in the plot.

[40] Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi cancelled a scheduled visit to Turkey and declared a national day of mourning for the victims of the attacks on 4 January.

[45] Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed his condolences to the "friendly and brotherly" people of Iran via a social media post.

[9] The Houthi movement in Yemen also condemned the attacks, calling the "criminal bombings" an "extension of all the crimes that attempted to undermine the Islamic Republic, its role in confronting global arrogance, its adoption of the nation's central cause, and its support for the resistance forces in Palestine and Lebanon.

[56] Vice President Mohammad Mokhber and Expediency Discernment Council member General Mohsen Rezaee also blamed Israel for the bombings.

[64] It also identified one of the bombers as a 24-year old Tajikistani and Israeli national surnamed Bozrov, who was trained by Islamic State in Afghanistan before entering Iran through its southeastern border.