Iran Sentences Tajik Man to Death over Shiraz Attack

A photo released by Mizan from the trial of three suspects in the Shiraz attack.
A photo released by Mizan from the trial of three suspects in the Shiraz attack.
TT

Iran Sentences Tajik Man to Death over Shiraz Attack

A photo released by Mizan from the trial of three suspects in the Shiraz attack.
A photo released by Mizan from the trial of three suspects in the Shiraz attack.

An Iranian court sentenced to death a Tajik man for carrying out a gun attack that caused casualties on a religious site in August, the judiciary said Thursday.

The attack on the Shah Cheragh mausoleum in Shiraz, the capital of the southern Fars province, took place less than a year after a mass shooting at the same site that was later claimed by ISIS.

Nine suspects - all of them foreigners - were arrested after the August 13 attack, which killed two people and wounded seven others.

Iran’s judiciary-affiliated Mizan said the Iranian Revolutionary Court gave Rahmatollah Norouzof two death sentences. Norouzof, described as a member of ISIS, was convicted of "sedition and collusion against the security of the country."

Two other men were sentenced to five years in prison and deportation from the country for "participating in gatherings and collusion with the intention of disrupting the country's security."

Footage and pictures published following the attack showed windows shattered by bullets and blood staining the ground.

An earlier shooting at the shrine on October 26, 2022 killed 13 people and injured 30 others. ISIS later claimed responsibility for that attack.

However, activists and human rights organizations questioned the timing and motives of these attacks that coincided with the launch of a crackdown against protests over the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in 2022.

Iran hanged two men in public on July 8 over the attack after their conviction for "corruption on Earth, armed rebellion, and acting against national security," Mizan said.

London-based rights group Amnesty International says Iran executes more people than any other country except China and hanged at least 582 people last year, the highest number since 2015.



Spanish Foreign Minister Calls for Weapons Embargo on Israel 

Palestinians gather to receive aid supplies in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (Reuters) 
Palestinians gather to receive aid supplies in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (Reuters) 
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Spanish Foreign Minister Calls for Weapons Embargo on Israel 

Palestinians gather to receive aid supplies in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (Reuters) 
Palestinians gather to receive aid supplies in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (Reuters) 

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares called on Tuesday for a weapons embargo on Israel while the war in Gaza lasts and urged the resumption of talks on Iran's nuclear program.

"We are the largest trade partner of Israel in the world, the European Union," he said on Bloomberg TV. "We must impose, for our European partners, an arms embargo, not to sell weapons to Israel as long as this war continues."

He said he wanted the EU to act as it did after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 to try to achieve peace.

The minister regretted there were no signs of de-escalation between Israel and Iran and called for a resumption of dialogue with Iran on its nuclear program.