IRAN The ‘Sunni clue’ among the motives for the assassination of Iranian Ayatollah Soleimani

The victim is the former imam of Zahedan, the capital of Sistan and Balochistan, who was 75 years old. A close associate of Khamenei, he was a member of the Assembly of Experts. At the moment the motive for the murder and the reasons for the gesture are unknown. The home province of the Shiite leader, the scene of protests and strikes.

Tehran () – A murder shrouded in mystery and with dark outlines that, 24 hours later, leaves several questions open. Starting with the victim, Ayatollah Abbas Ali Soleimani, former imam of Zahedan, capital of the majority Sunni province of Sistan and Balochistan in southeastern Iran, where the most violent clashes took place during protests in favor of Mahsa Amini. . The religious leader was killed in an armed attack when he was inside a bank in the town of Babolsar, in the northern province of Mazandaran: according to the news agency irnathe assailant – a security guard, who was later arrested – opened fire, shooting him in the head.

At the moment, no further details of the incident have been disclosed, nor is the motive that armed the attacker’s hand armed, who injured three other people and whose identity remains unknown. What is certain is the value of the 75-year-old victim, who in his day was one of the members of the Assembly of 88 experts called to designate the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, as well as a close collaborator of Khamenei. Surveillance cameras would show Soleimani sitting on a chair while behind him the guard opens fire and wounds him while his turban rolls on the ground.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi called for a swift investigation into Soleimani’s murder, appealing to security forces to “act as quickly as possible” to determine “the causes of the incident” and “identify the motive.” Among other versions that have circulated in recent hours is one according to which the Shiite leader was inside the bank when a man took the gun from a guard and began shooting. After a first moment of confusion and fear, the guard’s colleagues intervened, disarming and immobilizing the attacker, who was later arrested.

Although at the moment there are no other elements and the matrix is ​​not clear from the point of view of “security or terrorism”, as Mahmoud Hosseinipour Nouri, governor of Mazandaran, says, among the clues that are considered plausible is the Sunni one. Soleimani had been Supreme Leader Khamenei’s personal representative in Sistan and Balochistan province, which borders two largely Sunni-majority nations Pakistan and Afghanistan. Extremist groups opposed to Tehran’s Shiite government operate there, as well as gangs dedicated to smuggling and drug trafficking. As early as April last year, a suspected Sunni extremist stabbed to death two Shiite clergymen and wounded another in the city of Mashhad.

Some of the most violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces took place in the area, in the context of protests over the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish girl at the hands of the morale police last September in Tehran, because she did not she was wearing the hijab correctly. Among them stands out the death of 80 demonstrators when the security forces opened fire indiscriminately against the defenseless crowd. Clashes also took place yesterday in the Fanuj area, after the death of a young protester, also at the hands of the police, while in recent days, for the second time, workers from the energy, mining and petrochemical sectors have crossed paths arms demanding a pay rise. In a climate of protests and widespread discontent throughout the Islamic Republic, religious leaders have become targets of protesters, who have repeatedly removed their turbans from their heads in defiance (and contempt), disseminating videos and images on Internet.