TEHRAN -- An armed guard at a bank in northern Iran calmly walked up behind a senior cleric and shot and martyred the ayatollah on Wednesday, according to surveillance footage from the site.

The assassination of Ayatollah Abbasali Soleimani stunned both bystanders who witnessed the shooting and the wider public. The cleric had served on the country’s Assembly of Experts that selects and oversees the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader.  

Authorities offered no immediate motive for the attack in Babolsar in Iran’s Mazandaran province, just north of the capital, Tehran.  

Surveillance footage shared widely by Iranian media showed the shooter inside the bank, openly carrying a firearm and milling around briefly before he walked up to Ayatollah Soleimani and shot him.

As the shot rings out, Ayatollah Soleimani’s white turban falls to the floor as he goes limp. A window behind the cleric shatters. Two men, one of them wearing a green uniform, are seen, staring and apparently stunned. They later grab the man before the footage ends.

The Interior Ministry announced it would launch a special investigation into the slaying.

Ayatollah Soleimani, believed to be 77, served on the Assembly of Experts, an 88-seat panel overseeing the post of Iran’s supreme leader. He also once served as the personal representative Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei to Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.

However, Soleimani is the most-senior cleric to be killed in recent years. In April 2022, an Uzbek national stabbed two clerics to death in Mashhad at the Imam Reza shrine.

 

Supreme Court 

Upholds Death Sentence 

 

Iran’s Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence for Jamshid Sharmahd on charges of “corruption on earth”.

The court upheld a previous conviction against Sharmahd, issued by a lower court in February, for heading a pro-monarchist group planning attacks across Iran, according to the judiciary’s official news website.

“In the appeal, there is no reason or proof that would create the grounds for dismissing the initial verdict, and the sentence of the convicted has been issued in accordance with the law based on presented evidence,” the Supreme Court said.

The 67-year-old, who also has United States residency and was arrested in 2020, has been convicted of being the leader of the U.S.-based group Tondar (which means “thunder” in Farsi). The group has said it seeks to restore the monarchy that was toppled in a 1979 revolution.

The main charge he faced was masterminding a 2008 bombing at a mosque in the southern city of Shiraz, which martyred 14 people and wounded hundreds.

He has also been accused of planning a series of other attacks, including bombings and assassinations, in addition to passing information to U.S. and Israeli intelligence.

 

Court Orders U.S. 

Compensation to Families 

 

An Iranian court ruled the United States government and a number of individuals and entities, including former President Barack Obama, must pay compensation for 2017 attacks carried out by Daesh. 

The court in the capital issued the verdict on Wednesday based on complaints by families of three people martyred and six wounded during the June 2017 attacks in Tehran, according to the official news website of the judiciary.

The building of the Iranian parliament and the mausoleum of the founder of Iran’s current establishment, Imam Khomeini, were targeted during the daylight assault that martyred 17 people in total.

The court ruled $9.95 million needs to be paid to compensate for financial damages while $104 million and $199 million are for moral and punitive damages, respectively, with the total nearing $313 million.

Those convicted in the case include the U.S. government, Obama, former President George W. Bush, Central Command (CENTCOM), and its former commander Tommy Franks, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Treasury Department, weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin, and American Airlines Group.

As to why the U.S. is being blamed for the attacks, the website cited comments by American officials about the “fundamental” role played by the U.S. in “organizing and guiding terrorist groups”, news and information published by U.S. media, and books and speeches by U.S. officials discussing “the CIA’s role in creating terrorist groups”, including Daesh.

The judiciary also acknowledged the ruling comes as a response to numerous orders by U.S. courts over the years that have blamed Iran for “terrorist” assaults, and ordered compensation paid from seized Iranian assets.

“As this marks a violation of the immunity of the Iranian government, Iranian courts have also judged a variety of cases against the U.S. government and officials, and have issued legal decisions and will continue to do so,” it said.