Young Man Assaults Top Cleric In Esfahan After Friday Prayers

Mohammad-Reza Bakhtiari, the managing director of Tehran province Water and Wastewater Company, said on Friday with about 179 millimeters of rain since the beginning of the current Iranian year, (March 21), the reserves of water supply dams in Tehran province is at 636 million cubic meters, down from 815 million cubic meters compared to last year.

Iran has been suffering from drought for at least a decade and this year officials have been warning of a further decrease in precipitation.

As drought persists, more underground water is exploited for irrigation, depleting natural reservoirs formed during thousands of years. The drought has also led to a reduction in hydroelectric power generation.

On Thursday, a member of parliament’s energy committee, Parviz Mohammadnejad, said that the country faces a deficit of about 14,000 megawatts in electricity production, adding that the deficit will lead to regular blackouts during the summer when consumption is at its peaks.

Electricity consumption has been increasing in Iran because of extremely low prices, considered a subsidy in the state-controlled economy. While both power plant capacity and their fuel supply remain inadequate, Iran exports electricity to Iraq. 

Unlike normal visits by the president to other cities, which are usually announced beforehand so local authorities can organize state-sponsored welcoming ceremonies, the Friday junket was without the presence of people except for his security detail and a couple of city officials. 

Protests began last week, when the 10-story Metropol building collapsed, leaving nearly 40 people dead and dozens missing. It quickly became apparent that the owner and builder was a powerful and well-connected businessman who had disregarded regulations and building codes, being backed by officials, who might have had their own financial interests.

He also visited homes of some families of the victims of the disaster that triggered protests in Abadan as well as in several other cities across the oil-rich Khuzestan province who have been taking to the streets to demand accountability.

During the visit, Raisi said people have the right to expect investigation into corruption and some businessmen's connections with authorities that led to the Abadan incident, adding that they should be dealt with quickly.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh on Thursday rejected remarks in a statement issued at the end of the 152nd session of GCC's Ministerial Council in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh on Wednesday. 

In their statement, the GCC described Iran’s nuclear and missile programs and regional strategies as the main “challenge” facing the member states, criticizing the Islamic Republic’s support for “terrorism” as well as its “destabilizing behavior” across the region.

Khatibzadeh said such a "threadbare and destructive” statement indicates a “completely wrong approach” adopted by some member states and their “strategic confusion” vis-à-vis the Islamic Republic.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have held several rounds of talks since 2021 to improve their ties, severed since 2016, with no major results so far.

Commenting on the request by some GCC member states to be part of the Vienna talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, JCPOA, Khatibzadeh said raising such issues demonstrates the depth of the council’s failure to see the realities as the JCPOA and the UN Resolution 2231 have made it clear which countries are the signatories to the international treaty and can take part in the negotiations.

Iran’s official government news website IRNA reacted to the news saying that Col. Ali Esmailzadeh died “in an incident in recent days” at his home without mentioning any details. It added that an investigation is in progress, quoting “an informed source”.

IRNA rejected any suggestion of an assassination and called such reports “psychological ops” and “manufacturing news”.

Iran International, quoting sources in Iran, first reported Thursday that Esmailzadeh, one of the commanders of a secretive IRGC Quds (Qods) unit fell from the rooftop of his house in Karaj, near Tehran and was pronounced dead in the hospital. He served in Unit 840 of the extraterritorial Quds Force that conducts operations abroad, often directed against US allies in the region.

The incident happened on Monday, May 30, eight days after another commander Hassan Sayyad-Khodaei of the same secretive Unit 840 was assassinated outside his home in Tehran by two assailants who escaped on a motorcycle.

The sources said that after the assassination IRGC intelligence organs became suspicious of Esmailzadeh, who was a close associate of Sayyad-Khodaei and decided to eliminate him. They told his family that the victim committed suicide because he was suffering psychologically after a divorce.

Sabereen News, an Arabic and Persian Telegram channel close to the Qods Force also confirmed Esmailzadeh’s death saying that “he fell from the balcony” at his home.

But in its first report Sabereen News had called the incident “suspicious” and said, “investigations have begun,” asking the public not to believe “opposition” media, insisting that “so far nothing is clear.”

A few hours later, the IRGC-controlled channel quoted “an informed source” denying “assassination” as the cause of Esmailzadeh’s death.

But confusion reigned as another IRGC-affiliated channel, Ammariyoun, first said in a post, “It is being reported that another member of the Guards Qods Force has been assassinated.”

A few minutes later, the post was deleted, and the channel replaced the word “assassination” with “suicide” and wrote, “It is being reported that a person with the name Colonel Ali Esmailzadeh committed suicide by falling at his home in Karaj.”

The sources said that Colonel Ali Esmailzadeh died when he fell from the roof of his home in Jahan Nama area of Karaj.

He was a close colleague of Colonel Hassan Sayyad-Khodaei, the acting commander of the elite Qods Unit 840, who was shot dead behind the wheel of his car outside his home in Tehran on May 22 by two gunmen who fled the scene on a motorbike.

Unit 840 is a very secretive group within the Quds Force and there are no photos of its members available.

Iran International’s sources also said that after he fell from the roof, Esmailzadeh was taken to Shahid Madani hospital where after examination doctors pronounced him dead. Based on this report, officials of the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) told Esmailzadeh’s family that the reason for his death was suicide. The IRGC officials further told the family that he ended his life due to psychological problems after separation from his wife and has left a note about his action.

A European security source last week had told Iran International that Col. Sayyad-Khodaei, who was assassinated eight days earlier, was in charge of planning terror operations outside Iran, including attacks in India, Taiwan, Cyprus and Georgia. Suspicions for his assassination fell on Israel and according to some reports, Israeli officials told the United States that they had targeted Sayyad-Khodaei.

In the case of Esmailzadeh, Iran International’s sources said that after Sayyad Khodaei’s killing the IRGC intelligence looking for security leaks from within the Qods Force became suspicious of Esmailzadeh and decided to eliminate him by organizing a suicide scenario.