FirstFT: Iran vows revenge for ‘terrorist act’ after bomb blasts kill nearly 100

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Iran has condemned a “terrorist act” and vowed retribution after at least 95 people were killed in two bomb blasts at a ceremony to mark the death of a military commander.

The attacks yesterday were the deadliest in the Islamic republic in decades, hitting crowds gathering in the southern city of Kerman to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Qassem Soleimani, a former Revolutionary Guards leader. The US assassinated Soleimani in 2020.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said those behind the attacks “should know that this tragedy will have a tough response”, while President Ebrahim Raisi vowed the “pursuit and identification of the planners and perpetrators” of the “terrorist act”.

Tehran has not blamed a specific group or country, but here’s what we know so far.

The attack came amid high tensions across the Middle East triggered by Hamas’s October 7 assault on southern Israel and the Jewish state’s subsequent offensive in Gaza. Here is the latest from the region:

• Hizbollah: Hassan Nasrallah, the influential leader of the Lebanese militant group, has vowed revenge against Israel following the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Beirut.

• Go deeper: The death of Saleh al-Arouri, who helped found Hamas’s military wing, marks a significant blow to the group and risks escalating hostilities.

And here’s what else I will be keeping tabs on today:

• Inflation: Price increases in France and Germany are expected to be higher when the countries release their December consumer price indices.

• Economic data: S&P Global publishes services purchasing managers’ indices for the eurozone, South Africa, UK and US, which also reports November jobless claims.

• UK politics: Labour leader Keir Starmer will tell British voters that his party offers “the chance to change Britain” in a speech in the west of England. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to have a question-and-answer session with members of the public in the East Midlands (BBC). Sign up to our Inside Politics newsletter by Stephen Bush for more on British politics.

• Blinken in Middle East: The US secretary of state departs for a multi-day visit that will include Israel and other nations as the US continues diplomatic consultations amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Be more financially confident this year by signing up to our new six-part newsletter series with Claer Barrett, the FT’s consumer editor. Claer will guide you through managing a budget, buying a house, investing and saving for your retirement. Sign up here.

Five more top stories

1. Exclusive: The EU should streamline a defence industry held back by member states’ focus on their own national champions, the head of Leonardo has urged — even if it means governments giving up “a bit of national sovereignty”. In his first interview since taking the helm of the Italian aerospace and defence group, Roberto Cingolani said the Ukraine war had served as a wake-up call for the European industry. Read his full interview with the FT.

2. SpaceX has been accused of illegally firing eight employees who criticised founder Elon Musk. A US labour agency said the staff were dismissed after writing an open letter denouncing the billionaire amid a series of controversial posts on the social media site Twitter — which Musk has bought and renamed X — and allegations of sexual harassment against him. Here’s what the letter said.

3. The UK’s accounting watchdog should soften its approach to disciplining errant auditors, said the chief of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Michael Izza told the FT the Financial Reporting Council should raise the threshold for bringing enforcement action against auditors to make the profession more attractive.

4. Donald Trump has asked the US Supreme Court to overturn a decision to ban him from Colorado’s presidential primary, setting the stage for the nation’s highest court to decide whether states can stop the former president from seeking higher office for his role in the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol. Here’s more from the petition filed by Trump’s lawyers yesterday.

5. Most Federal Reserve officials wanted to keep borrowing costs high “for some time”, according to minutes of their meeting in December, adding to doubts that the US central bank is poised to begin cutting interest rates as early as March. While officials expressed optimism that the Fed was quelling inflation, they were also careful not to commit to any immediate loosening of monetary policy.

For more on rate-setters’ battle with inflation, premium subscribers can sign up for our Central Banks newsletter by Chris Giles. Or, upgrade your subscription here.

The Big Read

In the end, 2023 was a reminder that most years turn out to be a mix of the surprising and the predictable. The year played out as if the pandemic had never happened. Markets surged, and the widely anticipated global recession never came. But not all the purely contrarian bets would have paid off: Europe’s economy fell farther behind the US, and American mega cap tech stocks again led the charge. How will these trends evolve this year? Read Ruchir Sharma’s top 10 predictions for 2024.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Russian defectors: Hundreds of soldiers have handed themselves over to Kyiv after calling the “I want to live” hotline operated by Ukraine’s military.

• BYD overtakes Tesla: Once ridiculed by Elon Musk, the Chinese group is now the world’s best-selling electric-vehicle manufacturer. Who is Wang Chuanfu, the professor-turned-executive who drove its rise within a decade?

• Frozen assets: The west lacks a watertight legal basis to seize Russian assets because it is not openly at war with Moscow, writes Cornell University’s Nicholas Mulder.

• UK immigration: Now one of Britain’s most prosperous immigrant groups, Ugandan Asians and their journey can offer lessons for resettling today’s asylum seekers, writes Tej Parikh.

Chart of the day

British politicians should be wary of provoking a backlash in financial markets by increasing borrowing too quickly, the outgoing head of the UK’s Debt Management Office told the FT. Sir Robert Stheeman, who has overseen an eight-fold rise in the UK’s debt pile over his 21 years as the government’s borrowing chief, warned that the job of issuing bonds was getting harder and investors might increasingly act as a restraining influence on fiscal policy.

Take a break from the news

From boating in Arizona to opera in Versailles, don’t miss this month-by-month guide to travel for the year ahead, which details 43 holidays to take in 2024.

Additional reporting by Gordon Smith and Emily Goldberg