The Tasnim News Agency, associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran, claimed on Wednesday that ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in Iran under ‘Zionist guidance.’ The deadly attack in Kerman killed upwards of 80 people, and wounded scores more.
The agency reported that “a few hours after the implementation of the operation, the Zionist regime ordered the ISIS caliphate to accept the responsibility for this action.”
ISIS claimed responsibility for the deadly attack in a statement that said that suicide bombers detonated explosive belts in the middle of a crowd that had gathered in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman.
The Tasnim News Agency argued that it is the “Zionist regime” that is responsible for this attack on the people of Iran.
Tasnim News Agency says that ISIS did not write statement
Tasnim stated that they believe that ISIS’s statement is not real because the statement is different from ISIS’s usual rhetoric. The article provides several examples.
These examples show that the way ISIS announced that it was responsible for the attack is not the same way it usually does, arguing that the statement even refers to Iran with different terminology.
The article drew the conclusion that since the “political language” of this statement significantly differs from the usual ISIS rhetoric, it indicates that the statement’s author was not affiliated with ISIS.
The article concluded: “The delayed ISIS statement claiming responsibility for the Kerman terrorist incident was orchestrated by the intelligence service of the Zionist regime, and ISIS merely disseminated it through its official channels.”
US officials have stated that the attack was consistent with ISIS’s modus operandi, and its terrorist attacks in the past.
The IRGC controls the Tasnim News Agency, which largely amplifies the ideology of the IRGC.