Iran Cleric’s assassin says he mistook victim for someone else

The assailant, who was a guard at a bank, where he murdered Ayatollah Soleimani with a gun, said in a first series of confessions that he had personal disagreements with the deputy director of the bank branch and thought mistakenly that Ayatollah Soleimani was his brother.

Ayatollah Soleimani was at the time of the incident sitting at a chair in front of the deputy director’s desk and was waiting for him to arrive.

The assailant said he had known that the bank official had a brother and thought Ayatollah Soleimani was that person.

He said he was economically struggling and he wanted to take revenge from the deputy director of the bank by killing the victim, whom he believed was his brother.

Ayatollah Soleimani, who was also Zahedan’s former Friday prayers imam, was killed in Iran’s northern city of Babolsar. The assailant was taken into custody at the scene.
At least three other people were injured in the incident.