Suspected assassin says killed wrong Iranian cleric

A suspect arrested in Iran over the killing of a senior cleric says he had mistaken the victim for another cleric he had originally meant to target.

A senior cleric and former representative of the Iranian supreme leader in southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan Province, Ayatollah Abbas Ali Soleimani, was killed in an armed attack at a bank in the northern city of Babolsar in Mazandaran province, on April 26. Iranian officials have said the attacker worked for a security contractor in charge of guarding the bank premises.

In the Mehr news agency’s report on April 27, the suspect recounts how some undated dispute with the bank deputy manager triggered the incident.

"I had heard that the deputy had a brother who is a cleric," he said, adding that "I was under the impression that the cleric entering the branch was that brother, and decided, therefore, to kill him as revenge against the deputy."