Abbas-Ali Soleimani, a powerful Iranian cleric, has been assassinated in an armed attack. Abbas-Ali Soleimani was inside a bank when he was assassinated. According to the eyewitnesses, an unidentified person snatched the gun of a guard and shot at Ayatollah Abbas-Ali Soleimani, killing him on the spot.
The attack on the Iranian cleric Abbas-Ali Soleimani took place in the city of Babolsar in the northern province of Mazandaran on Wednesday. The assailant was arrested soon after the attack.
WHO WAS ABBAS-ALI SOLEIMANI?
Abbas-Ali Soleimani, 75, was previously the representative of the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In addition to his role as an imam who led Friday prayers, he was also responsible for conducting weekly services in the cities of Kashan located in central Isfahan province, and Zahedan located in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan.
Under the constitution, the 88-strong Assembly of Experts is mandated with supervising, dismissing and electing the Supreme Leader.
Last April, a suspected jihadist attack in the northeastern shrine city of Mashhad led to the death of two clerics and the injury of another.
(With agency inputs)