TEHRAN – A prominent Shia cleric was assassinated in Zahedan and a member of Basij in Karaj and another in Lahijan were martyred by rioters on Thursday amid mounting violence in Iran.

Sajad Shahraki, the prayer Imam of Zahedan’s Molaye Mottaqian Mosque, was assassinated on Thursday evening in a drive-by shooting, the police chief of Sistan-Baluchistan province said. 

The provincial police chief said mask-wearing gunmen, using two Pride and Peugeot 405 sedans, fired into the car of Shahraki at point-blank range, wounding him in the head and chest. 

The gunmen sped away after attacking the cleric, who later martyred in hospital due to the severity of the injuries 

The province has been restive over the last few weeks and has witnessed a spike in attacks on government institutions. On Friday, rioters attacked the building of the local governor in Khash County. Several have been reported wounded during the unrest. 

In Karaj, the Basij member identified as Seyed Ruhollah Ajamian was stabbed to death by rioters. Fars News said he was attacked in the Khorramdash district. A viral photo on social media showed Ajamian lying on the ground with his Basij uniform torn off. 
Hamid Pournorouz, 40, from Lahijan was also martyred on Thursday evening with cold weapons, the Mehr News Agency reported late on Thursday. 

Also, a number of police officers have been severely wounded after rioters attacked their patrol and robbed away their gear. Videos that have gone viral showed the bloody officers lying in the car and getting shots and stones from rioters.

Over the last weeks, certain cities have been in the throes of a continued wave of unrest that erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini. Iranian officials said that unrest was fomented by the U.S. and its allies in the region. 

“One can see a trace of the U.S. in most of the events that take place against Iran,” Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, has recently said. 

In an early October speech, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution said that the United States and Israel exploited the death of Mahsa Amini to stage riots in Iran and if this incident had not taken place, they would have found another pretext to do what they did. 

“These riots were planned. These riots had been planned. If the incident with the young girl had not taken place, they would have found another excuse to create insecurity and riots in the country in the beginning of the month of Mehr (September) this year. Who designed these plans? I openly state that these schemes were designed by the US, the usurping, fake, Zionist regime, and their mercenaries. They sat down and planned. They devised these schemes. Their employees, mercenaries, wage earners, and some treasonous Iranians abroad helped them,” the Leader said.