The bombing of a bus carrying members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) killed a reported 41 people, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

A car filled with explosives detonated near the bus, which was traveling between the cities of Zahedan and Khash near the border with Pakistan.

Initial reports in the Iranian media indicated that 20 people had been killed, but later the death toll was reported to be 41, meaning that everyone on the bus had been killed.

The IRGC blamed the bombing on the United States, but, as the Times reported, the IRGC “did not explain precisely how the Americans could have been involved in the attack.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who previously dismissed accusations that Iran had attempted terror attacks on European soil as “false flags,” said that the attack on Iranian soldiers and the Middle East conference in Warsaw were somehow connected.

On Twitter, Zarif wrote, “Is it no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day that #WarsawCircus begins?”

According to the Times, a Sunni terror group, Jaish al-Adl, or Army of Justice, with links to Al Qaeda, took credit for the bombing. Iranian officials did not confirm the group’s involvement in the attack though.

In September, when an attack on a military parade in Ahwaz killed at least 25 people, including IRGC troops, Iran also blamed the U.S.

At the time, IRGC’s deputy head Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami threatened the U.S., saying, “You have seen our revenge before … You will see that our response will be crushing and devastating, and you will regret what you have done.”

Blaming the “triangle,” which also included Israel and Saudi Arabia, he added, “You are responsible for these actions; you will face the repercussions… We warn all of those behind the story, we will take revenge.”

[Photo: Mehr News ]