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Tehran Gets New Hard-Line Mayor After Ministry Approval

FILE - In this June 5, 2021 file photo, made available by the government-affiliated Young Journalists Club, then presidential candidate Alireza Zakani speaks in a televised debate in Tehran, Iran. On Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, I (Morteza Fakhri Nezhad/YJC via AP, File)
FILE - In this June 5, 2021 file photo, made available by the government-affiliated Young Journalists Club, then presidential candidate Alireza Zakani speaks in a televised debate in Tehran, Iran. On Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, I (Morteza Fakhri Nezhad/YJC via AP, File)
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Tehran Gets New Hard-Line Mayor After Ministry Approval

FILE - In this June 5, 2021 file photo, made available by the government-affiliated Young Journalists Club, then presidential candidate Alireza Zakani speaks in a televised debate in Tehran, Iran. On Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, I (Morteza Fakhri Nezhad/YJC via AP, File)
FILE - In this June 5, 2021 file photo, made available by the government-affiliated Young Journalists Club, then presidential candidate Alireza Zakani speaks in a televised debate in Tehran, Iran. On Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, I (Morteza Fakhri Nezhad/YJC via AP, File)

Iran’s state TV is reporting that the country’s Interior Ministry has approved a new hard-line mayor for the capital, Tehran, after a city council election.

Alireza Zakani, 55 heads a parliamentary research center, and he was one of the seven approved 2021 presidential candidates. He withdrew from the race to support the eventual winner, fellow hard-liner Ebrahim Raisi.

According to The Associated Press, Zakani previously served as a lawmaker. He was also the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s volunteer unit at Tehran University in 1999.

Zakani replaces Pirouz Hanachi, an architecture professor at the Fine Arts Faculty of Tehran University.

He had also previously served as the deputy mayor for urban development.

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German Christmas Market Attacker Asked about Whereabouts of Saudi Ambassador

People mourn at the mourning site in front of St. John's Church following a vehicle-ramming attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, 22 December 2024. EPA/FILIP SINGER
People mourn at the mourning site in front of St. John's Church following a vehicle-ramming attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, 22 December 2024. EPA/FILIP SINGER
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German Christmas Market Attacker Asked about Whereabouts of Saudi Ambassador

People mourn at the mourning site in front of St. John's Church following a vehicle-ramming attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, 22 December 2024. EPA/FILIP SINGER
People mourn at the mourning site in front of St. John's Church following a vehicle-ramming attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, 22 December 2024. EPA/FILIP SINGER

The perpetrator who drove a car at speed through a Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg, Germany, has reportedly offered a reward in return for information about the whereabouts of the Saudi ambassador to Germany, a source told Independent Arabia on Sunday.
The source said that the attacker, Taleb al-Abd al-Mohsen, had offered a SAR 10,000 (equivalent to 2662 euros) in reward for anyone who provides information pertaining to the residence of the Saudi ambassador to Germany, and the timing of his presence.
The Saudi embassy had informed the German authorities about the threat, said the source but the latter “did not take the matter seriously”, he stated.
On Friday, Taleb al-Abd al-Mohsen drove a car at speed through a Christmas market in Germany, killing four women ranging in age from 45 to 75, as well as a 9-year-old boy and injuring 200, including 41 in serious condition.
The police apprehended the perpetrator at the scene of the attack. He is a doctor who had fled Saudi Arabia, where he was wanted on criminal charges. He had been residing in Germany for two decades.
Saudi Arabia condemned the ramming attack and expressed solidarity with the people of Germany.
A Saudi source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia had warned the German authorities about the suspect who appears to have been an active user of the social media platform X, sharing extremist tweets and retweets daily.
In 2023 and 2024, Germany received warnings about the man from Saudi authorities, a German source affirmed.