Reports that 73 people were killed in explosions near the grave of Qassem Soleimani in Iran

Two explosions in Iran on Wednesday at the cemetery where former top military commander Qassem Soleimani is buried killed 73 people and wounded 171, according to Iranian officials, worsening tensions in the region a day after a drone strike killed several people. Hamas officials in a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon.

Iranian officials told state media that two bombs placed in bags along the cemetery road exploded as a procession of people was on their way to the cemetery to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Mr. Soleimani by the United States. Officials said the explosion occurred after two suitcases filled with explosives exploded, apparently via remote control, sending bodies into pieces on the ground.

The explosions in Kerman, Iran, came four years after a US drone strike that assassinated General Soleimani, the longtime commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's powerful Quds Force, at Baghdad airport.

General Soleimani has been hailed in Iran and in parts of the broader region as a hero for building a Tehran-led network of regional militias that confronted the United States and Israel across the Middle East, and he continues to enjoy near-mythical status among supporters. -Iranian government.

That network included Hamas, the military and political group that controls Gaza, as well as Hezbollah, the armed political party that dominates much of Lebanon. Hezbollah is clashing with Israeli forces on Lebanon's southern border even as Hamas fights Israel in Gaza.

The identities of those who died in Iran on Wednesday are not yet known.