Iran's Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi visited the scene of a shooting at a Shiite shrine in Shiraz on Monday, which left one killed and eight injured, Iranian state news reported.
Mr Vahidi, a former commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was appointed to lead the investigation into Sunday's attack. He said he would visit the injured in hospital and that Iran's “enemies” would not succeed in their aims to destabilise the country.
“One person has been killed and eight others wounded in the attack,” official news agency IRNA reported, quoting deputy Fars governor Esmail Ghezel Sofla.
The wounded “have been transferred to medical centres and are undergoing treatment”, IRNA said.
Earlier, it said four people were killed but retracted the initial report.
The reports said two “terrorists” entered the shrine with guns, one of whom had been apprehended, according to state media.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency said at least seven people were wounded and shops in the area had been closed. State TV said the shrine area had been cordoned off by security forces.
It said Mr Vahidi had dismissed the deputy interior minister for political affairs, Mohammad Reza Gholamreza, following the attack, and had met with local officials to discuss the investigation.
Mr Vahidi is himself wanted by Interpol in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires that left 85 dead. At the time he was an operative with the Quds Force, a branch of the IRGC tasked with “irregular warfare” operations.
State news agency Irna posted a photo of bullet holes in glass panes at the entrance to the shrine on X, formerly known as Twitter.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Also posting on X, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian wished those injured a swift recovery and warned that “a painful end awaits the perpetrators and supporters of this crime”.
The Shah Cheragh mausoleum is home to the tomb of Ahmad, brother of Imam Reza – the eighth Shiite imam – and is considered the holiest site in southern Iran.
An attack on the Shah Cheragh mosque in October 2022, claimed by ISIS, killed 13 people.
Authorities in Shiraz publicly hanged two men convicted of involvement in that attack last month.
Three others were sentenced to prison terms ranging from five to 25 years.
The lone gunman, said to be from Tajikistan, died in a hospital from injuries sustained during the attack.
Bahrain%20GP
%3Cp%3EFriday%20qualifying%3A%207pm%20(8pm%20UAE)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ESaturday%20race%3A%207pm%20(UAE)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ETV%3A%20BeIN%20Sports%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Who are the Sacklers?
The Sackler family is a transatlantic dynasty that owns Purdue Pharma, which manufactures and markets OxyContin, one of the drugs at the centre of America's opioids crisis. The family is well known for their generous philanthropy towards the world's top cultural institutions, including Guggenheim Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate in Britain, Yale University and the Serpentine Gallery, to name a few. Two branches of the family control Purdue Pharma.
Isaac Sackler and Sophie Greenberg were Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York before the First World War. They had three sons. The first, Arthur, died before OxyContin was invented. The second, Mortimer, who died aged 93 in 2010, was a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. The third, Raymond, died aged 97 in 2017 and was also a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma.
It was Arthur, a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical marketeer, who started the family business dynasty. He and his brothers bought a small company called Purdue Frederick; among their first products were laxatives and prescription earwax remover.
Arthur's branch of the family has not been involved in Purdue for many years and his daughter, Elizabeth, has spoken out against it, saying the company's role in America's drugs crisis is "morally abhorrent".
The lawsuits that were brought by the attorneys general of New York and Massachussetts named eight Sacklers. This includes Kathe, Mortimer, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, who are all the children of either Mortimer or Raymond. Then there's Theresa Sackler, who is Mortimer senior's widow; Beverly, Raymond's widow; and David Sackler, Raymond's grandson.
Members of the Sackler family are rarely seen in public.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
