Four Killed in Armed Attack on Shiite Shrine in Iran

The attack Sunday on the Shah Cheragh shrine in Shiraz (Fars)
The attack Sunday on the Shah Cheragh shrine in Shiraz (Fars)
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Four Killed in Armed Attack on Shiite Shrine in Iran

The attack Sunday on the Shah Cheragh shrine in Shiraz (Fars)
The attack Sunday on the Shah Cheragh shrine in Shiraz (Fars)

An attack on a Shiite Muslim shrine in Iran’s southern city of Shiraz on Sunday killed four people and injured at least eight others, Iranian media outlets said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on the Shah Cheragh shrine, which state news agency IRNA said had been carried out by terrorists.

Later, Iranian Khabar TV channel said ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.

One of the suspected assailants was arrested while the other went on the run, according to Tasnim news agency.

At least seven people were wounded, including two workers at the shrine and two pilgrims, and shops in the area had been closed. State TV said the shrine area had been cordoned off by security forces.

At the site of the attack, the head of the judiciary in Fars province, Kazem Mousavi, said in statements to Iranian television that the attacker was “subject to preliminary interrogation,” adding that “the situation is under control.”

Later, the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee in the Iranian Parliament announced it will hold a session Monday to discuss details of the attack.

Last October, ISIS said it had launched an attack on the shrine in which 15 people were killed.

The group has claimed previous attacks in Iran, including the deadly twin bombings in 2017 that targeted Iran's parliament and the tomb of former supreme leader, Khomeini.

Last July, the judiciary’s Mizan Online news website said Iran hanged two men in public over the October attack in Shiraz.

It said Mohammad Ramez Rashidi and Naeem Hashem Qatali were hanged after being convicted of “corruption on earth, armed rebellion, and acting against national security” as well as “conspiracy against the security of the country.”

The nationalities of the two men were not revealed. But, authorities earlier said people from other countries including neighboring Afghanistan were involved in the attack.

Last month, IRNA said the two men were hanged at dawn on July 8 on a street near the shrine in Shiraz, the capital of Fars province.

Rashidi had confessed to having collaborated with ISIS to carry out the shooting, Mizan stated.

Meanwhile, Mousavi said three other defendants were sentenced to prison for five, 15, and 25 years for being members of ISIS.

Iranian authorities said that the main assailant in the attack was identified as Hamed Badakhshan, a man in his 30s. They said he died of injuries sustained during his arrest.

In November last year, Tehran stated that 26 people from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan had been arrested in connection with the attack.



Russia, Chinese FMs Discuss Ties, Ukraine, Korean Peninsula on G20 Sidelines

In this handout picture released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on November 19, 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Russian Foreign Ministry/AFP)
In this handout picture released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on November 19, 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Russian Foreign Ministry/AFP)
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Russia, Chinese FMs Discuss Ties, Ukraine, Korean Peninsula on G20 Sidelines

In this handout picture released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on November 19, 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Russian Foreign Ministry/AFP)
In this handout picture released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on November 19, 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Russian Foreign Ministry/AFP)

Chinese and Russian foreign ministers discussed bilateral ties, the conflict in Ukraine and the situation on the Korean Peninsula on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting in Brazil, the foreign ministries of both countries said on Tuesday.

"We are truly at an unprecedented stage in the development of our strategic relations of a comprehensive partnership," Russia's Sergei Lavrov told his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, according to a post on the Russian foreign ministry Telegram channel.

Wang said that Beijing is willing to work with Russia to further strengthen bilateral "comprehensive strategic coordination," the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.

The "two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis and the situation on the Korean Peninsula," it added without providing further detail.

The meeting is part of a frenzy of bilateral talks between China and Russia that followed Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine 1,000 days ago. The war ostracized Moscow from Kyiv's Western allies, bringing waves of sanctions on Russian politicians and businesses.

China and Russia declared a "no limits" partnership when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing less than three weeks before his troops marched into Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two.

In May this year, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged a "new era" of partnership between the two most powerful rivals of the United States, which they cast as an aggressive Cold War hegemon sowing chaos across the world.