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Biden administration warned Iran before terror attack that killed over 80 in Kerman, U.S. officials say
The Biden administration issued a private warning to Iran before the Jan. 3 terror attacks by the Islamic State (ISIS) that killed more than 80 people in the city of Kerman, U.S. officials confirmed Thursday.
The warning, which was based on actionable intelligence, was delivered a week prior to dual suicide bombings at a ceremony for the anniversary of the death of Qassem Soleimani, the former head of the elite Quds Force within Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Soleimani was killed in a drone strike authorized by the Trump administration in 2019 near the Baghdad International Airport.
“Prior to ISIS’ terrorist attack on Jan. 3, 2024, in Kerman, Iran, the U.S. government provided Iran with a private warning that there was a terrorist threat within Iranian borders,” a U.S. official told CBS News. “The U.S. government followed a longstanding “duty to warn” policy that has been implemented across administrations to warn governments against potential lethal threats.”
“We provide these warnings in part because we do not want to see innocent lives lost in terror attacks,” the official said.
Iranian officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The American officials declined to offer details about the nature or further specificity about the timing of the warning, the intelligence underlying it, or any response they may have received from Tehran. It could not be determined if Iranian officials took any steps to try to thwart the attacks, the deadliest in decades, based on the U.S. warning.
In recent weeks, President Biden has acknowledged that the U.S. delivered private messages to Iran in regard to attacks conducted by Houthi militias based in Yemen. He did not make mention of any communication regarding the Afganistan-based ISIS-Khorasan, or ISIS-K, terror attack in Iran. Messages are typically delivered via intermediary countries, given the lack of direct diplomatic contact between the US and Iran.
ISIS, a radical Sunni group with an avowed hatred of Shiite Muslims, later claimed responsibility for the bombing, calling it a “dual martyrdom operation.” Iran’s population is more than 90% Shia Muslim.
Administration officials have repeatedly cited the Iranian government as a key fomenter of instability in the region, including in the heated aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas extremists. The Islamic Republic of Iran, led by Shiite clerics, provides funding and weapons for Hamas, and the US considers it to be the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.
“I would not interpret any kind of change in policy based on anything out there,” State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Thursday. Patel declined to confirm any warning was issued but said the U.S. continues to have an “adversarial” relationship with Iran.
National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) Christine Director Abizaid noted an “increased external threat” from ISIS-K, a branch of ISIS principally concentrated in Afghanistan, in Senate testimony last October. The group was behind the August 2021 attack in Kabul that killed more than 180 people, including 13 American soldiers.
U.S. officials acknowledged ISIS-K “does remain a viable terrorist threat.”
The U.S. routinely issues warnings to foreign governments, including adversarial ones, when it has detailed intelligence ahead of a potentially deadly event or act, including kidnappings, according to current and former officials, who also said it was not the first time the U.S. had provided such a warning to Iran.
Camilla Schick contributed to this report.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
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Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.