The statement of the theTudeh Party of Iran:

The Tudeh Party of Iran strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Kerman [on 3 January 2024] and warns of the danger of ‎the expansion of military conflicts and terrorist attacks in the region.

The Tudeh Party of Iran strongly condemns two large explosions in Kerman, at a gathering on the ‎occasion of the anniversary of the murder of Qasem Soleimani, killing 103 and wounding more than ‎‎211 people.

‎With the launch of the massive invasion by the military forces of the racist Israeli regime on Gaza on ‎27 October 2023, following the Hamas attack on Israeli territory [on 7th October], so far over 22,000 ‎Palestinians have been killed, more than 8,700 of whom were children. In this operation, which the ‎progressive and humanitarian forces of the world have rightly called a "crime against humanity", tens of ‎thousands have been injured and more than a million Gazans displaced, and a large part of the Gaza Strip ‎has been razed to the ground. The unwavering support of U.S. imperialism for the Netanyahu ‎government's criminal policy, U.S. vetoing of UN Security Council resolutions for an immediate ceasefire in ‎the region, and the proliferation of Israeli military operations together pose a grave and immediate risk ‎that the war might spread to other countries in the region, including Lebanon, Syria, and Iran.‎

In recent days, terrorist operations in Syria, Lebanon, and Iran have escalated tensions in the region and ‎increased the risk of massive military conflicts and direct intervention by U.S. imperialism in the region.‎

On 25 December 2023, Seyed Razi Mousavi Chashmi, who since the 1990s was reportedly "responsible for ‎the support and logistics of the Quds Force in Syria" and one of the IRGC's closest commanders to ‎Qasem Soleimani and in charge of contacts with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the region, was ‎killed in a rocket attack by the Israeli government in Syria. Amir Saeed Iravani, Iran's ambassador and ‎permanent representative to the United Nations, called on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to ‎condemn Israel for this act.‎

In the wake of that assassination, on 2 January 2024, Saleh al-Arouri, the leader of Hamas's political ‎bureau and one of the founders of Hamas’s military wing, and six others, as well as two other Hamas ‎commanders, were killed in an Israeli terrorist attack in Lebanon. In 1992, al-Arouri was arrested by the ‎security forces of the racist Israeli regime and spent 18 years in prison. Lebanon's prime minister ‎condemned the crime and accused the Israeli government of trying to bring the entire region into the war. ‎According to world news agencies, al-Arouri was the main contact with Hezbollah in Lebanon and the ‎Iranian regime.‎

As reported by the British Guardian newspaper, in early December, Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet, Israel's internal ‎security agency, told Israeli parliamentarians that “Hamas leaders would be killed in Gaza, in the West ‎Bank, in Lebanon, in Turkey, in Qatar, and everywhere [else].”‎

In the wake of the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, a terrorist act strongly condemned by Lebanese Hezbollah, ‎it was reported today that as a result of two large explosions, 103 people have been killed and more ‎than 211 injured at a gathering on the occasion of the anniversary of the killing of Qasem Soleimani in ‎Kerman [in central Iran]. No person or organization has so far accepted responsibility for this inhumane ‎and terrorist act.‎

The Tudeh Party of Iran condemns this terrorist operation and warns of the potential escalation of tensions ‎and the risk of expansion of military conflicts in the region. Drawing Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran into ‎military conflict will be a major catastrophe for the region and the people of these countries which ‎should be strictly avoided. The racist and criminal state of Israel and its imperialist allies and partners ‎want to continue and expand the war in the region in line with their policy of imposing their indisputable ‎hegemony in the Middle East. With vigilance these conspiracies must be countered.‎

The Tudeh Party of Iran

3 January 2024‎ 

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