Public anger has mounted after security forces guarding a military base in central Iran opened fire on two cars, killing four members of a family including a three-year-old girl.
Authorities said the shootings occurred when forces guarding a military facility in the city of Khomein opened fire on two suspicious vehicles. A local governor later confirmed the deaths of four civilians in the incident.
The victims were named as Mohammad-Hossein Sheikhi, Mahboubeh Sheikhi, their three-year-old daughter Raha, and a woman identified as Farzaneh Heidari, believed to be the family’s sister-in-law.
"The perpetrators of this incident are currently under arrest," said Ebrahim Gamizi, the public prosecutor in Khomein, who announced the opening of a judicial investigation.
The government did not specify which body the shooters belonged to. However, a number of social media accounts, including one saying to represent the Sheikhi family, said the assailants were members of the Basij paramilitary force and that the shooting occurred at a checkpoint.
Several posts said that Heidari’s child is also in a coma due to gunshot wounds.
'Another Kian'
Images of Raha Sheikhi circulated widely online, with social media users comparing her death to that of nine-year-old Kian Pirfalak, who was killed during the 2022 anti-government protests when forces opened fire on his family’s car in Izeh, Khuzestan province.
Dozens of users described Raha’s killing as a repetition of Kian’s, accusing authorities of targeting unarmed civilians under the guise of enforcing tightened security following the war with Israel.
Exiled prince Reza Pahlavi wrote on X: “The bloodstained hands of Khamenei’s IRGC and Basij have once again taken the lives of innocent children of Iran. In the city of Khomein, they slaughtered the Sheikhi family including a baby girl, Raha.”
“It shows the true nature of a desperate and criminal regime—one that can no longer even protect its own leaders and resorts instead to taking revenge for its humiliation by murdering children.”
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi said in a statement that the Sheikhi family was killed with military weapons and “the child’s voice was silenced by the sound of gunfire as her chest was torn apart in her parents’ arms.”
Mohammadi linked the killings to broader patterns of lethal force at checkpoints, citing the deaths of women in a village near Khash and several young men in Hamedan. “There are no bombs or rockets—but bullets rain down. There is no war—but fire rains down."
Checkpoints become flashpoints
The Khomein shootings follow a string of recent incidents at checkpoints operated by the Revolutionary Guards and its Basij paramilitary forces since Iran’s 12-day conflict with Israel in June. Officials have expanded internal security measures in the wake of the conflict, increasing the number of stop-and-search stations on highways and in cities.
On July 2, the IRGC-linked Fars News Agency confirmed that security forces fatally shot two young men—Mehdi Abaei and Alireza Karbasi—near Hamedan, west of Iran. They had been on a hiking trip. Their funeral drew chants of “I will kill whoever killed my brother.”
Authorities have routinely pledged to investigate such killings, but there has been no public reporting on disciplinary action or legal proceedings against the shooters. Instead, survivors and bereaved families have often faced pressure to remain silent and abandon legal claims.
In one of the most recent cases, 32-year-old Arezou Badri was left with severe spinal injuries after being shot by police in July last year, for allegedly violating mandatory hijab rules inside her car.
A pattern unbroken
Despite official pledges of transparency and justice, authorities have provided no updates in similar past cases. In the Pirfalak case, officials initially accused a dissident named Mojahed Kourkour, later executing him in June on charges of “enmity against God,” despite denials of his involvement by Kian’s mother, Mahmonir Molaeirad.
In posts featuring images with Kourkour’s mother, Molaeirad repeatedly insisted that security forces were responsible for her son's death and that the Islamic Republic was “trying to bury the truth.”
The repeated killings at checkpoints, and what critics see as impunity for the perpetrators, continue to fuel public mistrust.
Armed personnel opened fire on two passing vehicles they deemed suspicious outside the base in the city of Khomein, the semi-official ISNA reported, killing three people the report described as "martyrs".
A fourth person died from injuries sustained in the shooting later on Friday, according to the local governor.
The city’s public and revolutionary prosecutor said those involved in the shooting are under arrest, and that a judicial case has been opened for them. The wording of the state media report suggests the victims were civilians killed in error.
Tehran is reeling from intelligence lapses in the 12-day war which allowed its arch-foe to assassinate top military figures and wreak havoc on bases and nuclear sites.
Hundreds of civilians were killed in the shock campaign last month.
The shooting comes amid heightened domestic surveillance and arrests following the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran last month
Iranian authorities have detained at least 700 people on suspicion of collaborating with Israel, with hundreds reportedly arrested in Tehran as checkpoints have been deployed across major cities, and a new public hotline solicits tips for “suspicious behavior.”
The wide network of new checkpoints has expanded to cover nearly all city entry points, targeting private cars, buses and freight trucks.
On July 2, two young men were shot dead by the Islamic Republic's security forces outside Hamedan in western Iran.
Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, reported that personnel opened fire on their vehicle near the Tareek-Darreh area after suspecting it of drone-related activity.
“Officers first fired warning shots, then issued a stop order before targeting the car directly,” Fars wrote.
The young men were on a recreational off-road trip — a common pastime in the area — and had no known political links, according to local reports. One other passenger was also wounded.
The Armed Forces Judicial Organization of Hamedan confirmed the deaths and said a formal probe was underway.
Swift reporting on the incidents appears to reflect official keenness to avoid stoking popular anger as economic malaise and political discontent persists.
The death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in Iranian morality police custody in 2022 stoked a protest movement in 2022 as shifting official explanations of her death failed to assuage popular anger. The demonstrations were quashed with deadly force.
