Sunni Cleric Killed in Southeast Iran

Abdolshakour Kord . Asharq Al-Awsat
Abdolshakour Kord . Asharq Al-Awsat
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Sunni Cleric Killed in Southeast Iran

Abdolshakour Kord . Asharq Al-Awsat
Abdolshakour Kord . Asharq Al-Awsat

Gunmen have shot dead a Sunni cleric in a town in southeast Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported on Thursday.

The report said Abdolshakour Kord was killed near a mosque in the Baluchi town of Khash.

IRNA said the cleric was active in both religious and academic fields and that the case is under investigation.

The deputy governor of Khash regretted the incident having taken place.

Anti-regime local sources accused the Iranian intelligence of being involved in the crime.

The authorities in the province announced that Kord’s funeral will be held Friday “with the participation of the nation’s different factions.”

Thursday’s shooting came after the death of an officer from the border guards during clashes with armed men in Sistan and Baluchestan Province on Wednesday.

The officer’s death also came one week after three from the Basij were killed in clashes with armed men in the same province.

Sistan and Baluchestan shares common borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan. 



Iran Guards Chief Says Netanyahu ICC Warrant 'Political Death' of Israel

Revolutionary Guards chief General Hossein Salami - File/AFP
Revolutionary Guards chief General Hossein Salami - File/AFP
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Iran Guards Chief Says Netanyahu ICC Warrant 'Political Death' of Israel

Revolutionary Guards chief General Hossein Salami - File/AFP
Revolutionary Guards chief General Hossein Salami - File/AFP

The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Friday described the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a former defense minister as the “end and political death” of Israel, in a speech.
“This means the end and political death of the Zionist regime, a regime that today lives in absolute political isolation in the world and its officials can no longer travel to other countries,” Revolutionary Guards chief General Hossein Salami said in the speech aired on state TV.
In the first official reaction by Iran, Salami called the ICC warrant “a welcome move” and a “great victory for the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements,” both supported by the Islamic republic, AFP reported.
The court also issued a warrant for the arrest of Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif.
The warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant were issued in response to accusations of crimes against humanity and war crimes during Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, sparked by the Palestinian militant group’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The ICC’s move theoretically limits the movement of Netanyahu, as any of the court’s 124 national members would be obliged to arrest him on their territory.
The court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan urged the body’s members to act on the warrants, and for non-members to work together in “upholding international law.”