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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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Iran Condemns the Killing of Embassy Staffer in Damascus

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei (Archive photo – MEHR)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei (Archive photo – MEHR)
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Iran Condemns the Killing of Embassy Staffer in Damascus

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei (Archive photo – MEHR)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei (Archive photo – MEHR)

Iran denounced on Sunday the killing of one of its embassy staffers in Damascus describing the act as a “terrorist attack”.
The spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaeil Baqaei, condemned the killing of Seyed Davood Bitaraf, a local staff member at the Iranian Embassy in Damascus.
“Davood Bitaraf was martyred last Sunday in a terrorist attack by individuals who opened gunfire at his vehicle in Damascus”, Iran’s Mehr news agency quoted Baqaei.
He added that Bitaraf’s body was found and identified and then transported back to Iran in the past few days.
The spokesman emphasized that the Syrian transitional government must take responsibility for identifying the perpetrators of this crime, bringing them to justice, and ensuring they are held accountable.
He also confirmed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is closely monitoring the matter through appropriate diplomatic and international channels.
In earlier statements, Baqaei had said that the reopening of the Iranian embassy in Damascus is contingent upon ensuring the security of the embassy and its diplomatic personnel.
Following the overthrow of Bashar Assad's regime by Syrian armed factions on the 8th of December, the Iranian embassy, which had been stormed, was closed. Since 2011, Iran has supported Bashar Assad's government in its fight against armed groups.