The Biden administration sought to warn Iran about the terrorist attack carried out by the Islamic State (ISIS) against Iran in early January, The Wall Street Journal reported. report Thursday.
On January 3, ISIS operatives detonated two explosive belts in the city of Kerman, killing more than 80 Iranians, many of them in memory of former Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander General Qassem Soleimani. was present at the ceremony. The Biden administration attempted to privately warn Iran of the plan in advance and provided detailed information indicating the time and location of the planned attack, according to the WSJ. (Related: US 'Undisputed' Intel ISIS carried out bombing of Iran: Report)
of #Islamic nation is claiming #Kerman, #Iran suicide bomber pic.twitter.com/CoCwkOLGKT
— Lucas Webber (@LucasADWebber) January 4, 2024
“Prior to the terrorist attack by ISIS in Kerman, Iran, on January 3, 2024, the U.S. government privately warned Iran that there was a terrorist threat within its borders,” a U.S. official said. He told WSJ. “The U.S. government has followed a long-standing 'duty to warn' policy that has been implemented in each administration to warn the government of potentially deadly threats. We are issuing these warnings because… Partly because we don't want to see innocent lives lost in terrorist attacks.”
Iran was unable to act on the information provided by the Biden administration, and an attack by ISIS was carried out against Kerman on January 3. It is unclear why Iran did not heed the warnings or try to prevent the attack, U.S. officials told the Journal. .
It is unclear how the Biden administration communicated this information to Iran, or whether this is the first time such a warning has been issued to the country, the Journal said. One U.S. official said the Biden administration tried to keep its communications with the Iranian regime secret.
The U.S. “duty to warn” requires intelligence agencies to notify the public at home and abroad when they are under threat of a terrorist attack. according to to Director of National Intelligence. Some exceptions exist, such as when the targeted individuals are themselves terrorists or certain other types of criminals.
A U.S. official told the Journal that the Biden administration could have chosen to warn Iran to protect civilian lives or to destabilize Iran from provoking further conflict in the Middle East.
Iran is the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism and is responsible for much of the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East. Iran supports about a dozen Islamic terrorist organizations and militias across the region, including Hezbollah and Hamas, which killed 1,200 Israelis on October 7.
Iran and ISIS have long been enemies. The Iranian regime considers ISIS a terrorist organization and seeks to eradicate it from the Middle East, while ISIS believes that Iranian Shiites promote a miniaturized version of Islam and should be killed.
Soleimani was assassinated in a US airstrike in 2020 on the orders of former President Donald Trump, and is now considered a martyr by Iranians. Iran has previously claimed that Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel was in retaliation for Soleimani's death, a claim disputed by those within the regime. according to To Iran International.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
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