TEHRAN: A powerful Iranian cleric, a member of the Assembly of Experts that selects the country’s supreme leader, has been killed in an armed attack, officials said on Wednesday.

The attack is believed to be the most significant in years against a cleric in Iran.

“Ayatollah Abbas Ali Soleimani was killed this morning in an armed attack... the assailant was also arrested and is now being investigated,” IRNA news agency reported, citing a security official for the northern province of Mazandaran where the killing occurred.

The attack took place inside a bank in Babolsar city, the official said. “The motive of the assailant is not yet clear and will be announced after it is clarified,” the official added.

The governor of Mazandaran, Mahmoud Hosseinipour, said the attacker was a local security officer of the bank. “So far, our information and documents indicate that this was not a security or terrorist act,” Hosseinipour told state television, adding that “the assailant did not know the ayatollah”.

CCTV camera footage released by Tasnim news agency showed the security guard, wearing a blue and white jacket, shooting the cleric from behind as he was sitting in a chair at the bank.

Following the killing, Iranian Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri ordered provincial authorities to “investigate the issue from different angles, do the necessary follow-ups and report the results.”

Soleimani, 75, was previously a representative of the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He had also been the imam who led the Friday prayers in the cities of Kashan, in Isfahan province, and Zahedan in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2023