A provincial governor for Mazandaran Province, Rouhollah Salgi, told IRNA on Wednesday that Ayatollah Soleimani was shot dead earlier in the day.
Salgi said the assailant was in custody. He did not provide further details.
But Tasnim News Agency cited an eyewitness as saying that Ayatollah Soleimani was sitting in a bank when the assailant took a guard’s rifle by force and sprayed the cleric with bullets, killing him.
At least three others are said to have been injured in the incident.
An investigation is underway.
