The Friday Prayer Imam of Kazeroun in southern Iran was fatally shot on Friday, as reported by IRNA News, marking the third such killing of the provincial town's top cleric since the Islamic revolution of 1979. Mohammad Sabahi succumbed to his injuries at Namazi Hospital in Shiraz despite medical intervention, Kazeroun's governor Mohammad Ali Bekhrad confirmed to IRNA on Friday evening, the anti-ayatollah outlet Iran International reported Saturday.

Video: Iranian cleric being shot by attacker in Iran's Kazeroun / Credit: Social Media

The shooting occurred after Friday prayers, according to IRNA, which notably avoided characterizing the death as martyrdom – a term typically reserved for deaths with political or religious significance in Iran.

Friday prayer imams, who are appointed by religious authorities under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's oversight, hold significant religious and political influence in Iranian communities. Initial reports about the incident were contradictory, with Iranian media first announcing Sabahi's death, then describing his condition as critical. The assailant reportedly took his own life following the attack.

Governor Bekhrad dismissed terrorism as a motive, suggesting to IRNA that personal grievances might have prompted the shooting. He indicated that investigations are ongoing. When news of the shooting emerged, claims on a popular Telegram channel that the attacker was a war veteran were quickly refuted by Mehdi Mazarei, head of Kazeroun's Martyrs Foundation, who warned against spreading misinformation.

Mizan News, affiliated with Iran's judiciary, reported that the assailant had a criminal history rather than military service. According to their report, the individual had previously attempted to attack a judge with explosives two decades ago, suffering self-inflicted injuries, and served six years in prison for bombing incidents in Gachsaran and other offenses, including weapon theft and bribery.

Before his appointment to Kazeroun in November 2019, Sabahi had served as Friday Imam of Kharameh in Fars province for ten years. The town of Kazeroun, with approximately 100,000 residents, has witnessed similar attacks before. In May 2019, Friday Imam Mohammad Khorsand was fatally stabbed after Ramadan prayers. The perpetrator, Hamid Reza Derakhshandeh, was executed within two months. In July 1981, another Friday Imam, Abdolrahim Daneshjou, was shot dead near his home after evening prayers, with state sources attributing the attack to MEK members, now an exiled opposition group in Albania.

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A decision by Sunni Muslim leader Saad al-Hariri to step away from Lebanese politics opens the way for Sh'ite Hezbollah to extend its already deep sway over the country, rendering it ever more a bastion of Iranian influence on the Mediterranean.

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Three times prime minister, Hariri declared on Monday he would suspend his role in public life and boycott a general election in May, citing Iranian influence as one of the reasons he saw little hope of positive change.

It opens a new phase in Lebanon's sectarian politics, governed by a system of power-sharing among its many sects, and adds to the uncertainties facing a country suffering a financial meltdown that marks the biggest threat to stability since a 1975-90 civil war.

Hariri's move will accelerate the fragmentation of the Sunni community which his family dominated for 30 years with Saudi support, before Riyadh cut him off, abandoning a Lebanon policy that had cost billions but failed to curb Hezbollah.

Founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982 and heavily armed, Hezbollah has long been Lebanon's strongest faction, gradually establishing the country as one of several Arab states where Iran's Shiite Islamist government wields major sway and making Lebanon a theatre of its struggle with Gulf Arab states.

Stronger financially than most in Lebanon, Hezbollah is well positioned to capitalize on Hariri's retreat. A source familiar with Hezbollah's thinking said the group is already eyeing potential gains for its allies in the Sunni community, typically local politicians lacking the national sway of Hariri's party.

But Hezbollah is also wary of new challenges, including the risk that local and regional adversaries will seek to replace Hariri with more hawkish figures who will seek confrontation rather than strike compromises the way he did in recent years.

Hariri's political earthquake is set against the backdrop of an escalation in the wider struggle between Iran and US-allied Gulf Arab states. The Iran-aligned Houthis have launched two rocket attacks on the United Arab Emirates this month.

The UAE belongs to a Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen that says Hezbollah is aiding the Houthis.

On Saturday, a Gulf Arab envoy handed the Lebanese government a list of conditions for thawing ties which a Lebanese diplomatic source said included setting a time frame for the implementation an 18-year-old UN resolution that requires Hezbollah's disarmament.

Political sources say the demand was seen in Beirut as an escalation by Gulf states that expelled Lebanese ambassadors in October in a rift over criticism of the Yemen war by a Hezbollah-aligned minister.

The list, described by the Gulf envoy as confidence-building proposals, also echoed Western demands for the election to be held on time.

But with the Sunni political scene in disarray, some analysts expect calls for a postponement.

Many observers believe this would suit all major players apart from Hezbollah's adversaries who include the Christian Lebanese Forces, a Saudi-aligned party which hopes the majority Hezbollah won with its allies in 2018 can be overturned.

"If the big powers in Lebanon including Hezbollah think it is in their interest to delay the elections, they will do so," said Nabil Boumonsef, deputy editor-in-chief at Annahar daily.

If the election happens, the subsequent horse-trading over a new government is likely to be even more difficult than usual.

This uncertainty does not bode well for the chances of government action to tackle the economic crisis.

Hariri's decision has turned an already complicated electoral landscape on its head.

Dozens of parliament's 128 seats will be affected.

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It won't only affect the 20 seats his Future Movement won in 2018, but many more won by other groups in local alliances with Future. There is currently no Sunni with the kind of country-wide network maintained by Hariri, who lost a third of his seats in 2018 but maintained his position as the leading Sunni.

One of his brothers, Bahaa, may run or back candidates, but has yet to announce his plans. Bahaa has criticized Saad over his accommodations with Hezbollah.

Druze politician Walid Jumblatt told Reuters Hariri's step meant "a free hand for Hezbollah and the Iranians."

Hezbollah-allied Sunnis won seats from Future in 2018.

But the situation may not be so clear cut for Hezbollah, designated a terrorist group by the United States.

For while Hariri's early career was defined by confrontation with Hezbollah, culminating in a brief civil war in 2008, he later made compromises that suited the group and its allies.

In his speech on Monday, Hariri said his compromises had avoided civil war.

"I am not so sure how happy Hezbollah is" with Hariri's decision, said Heiko Wimmen of International Crisis Group.

"It is in Hezbollah's interest to have at least the outward appearance of a functioning political system where everyone is involved, including the Sunnis."

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Iranian and Gulf Arab officials met in Baghdad on Saturday on the sidelines of a regional summit that Iraq hoped would encourage its neighbors to talk to each other instead of settling scores on its territory.

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The meetings come months after regional foes Iran and Saudi Arabia resumed direct talks in Iraq which have achieved no breakthrough but have helped offset escalating tension in the Middle East.

Iraq's security has improved in recent years but it is still plagued by big power rivalries, rampant corruption among its own politicians and heavily armed militia groups.

Competition for influence in the Middle East between Iran on one side and the United States, Israel and Gulf Arab states on the other has made Iraq the scene of attacks against US forces and assassinations of Iranian and Iraqi paramilitary leaders.

The strained relationships within the region have also led to disruptions to global oil supplies with attacks on Saudi Arabian oil installations – blamed on but denied by Tehran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met his counterparts from Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, officials from the two Gulf Arab states said, but provided no further details.

There was no indication of any direct meetings between Iran and Saudi Arabia, but Iraq said talks between the two countries, which began in April, were continuing.

French President Emmanuel Macron also attended the Baghdad meeting, hailing it as a major boost for Iraq and its leadership. The country had been largely shunned by Arab leaders for the past few decades because of security concerns amid back-to-back wars and internal unrest, its airport frequently attacked with rockets by insurgents.

On Saturday, Iraqi leaders were on hand at Baghdad International Airport to receive the red carpet arrivals. They included Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, Jordan's King Abdullah and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. It was the first official visit to Iraq by the Qatari emir, whose country's ties with Saudi Arabia are also fraught with tensions. Relations have improved recently since a declaration was signed with the kingdom and other Arab Gulf states to ease a years-long rift.

Macron was due to stay an extra day, meet Iraqi leaders and visit French special forces fighting Islamic State insurgents.

Organizers of the Baghdad summit said they did not expect any diplomatic breakthroughs. "Getting these countries to sit around the table – that will be achievement enough," said one Iraqi government official.

Iranian officials have said they are focused more on the outcome of talks in Vienna with Western powers over Iran's nuclear program and international sanctions.

"The meeting in Iraq ... is only focused on Iraq and how the regional countries can cooperate to help Iraq," an Iranian official told Reuters ahead of the Baghdad summit.

Ahead of the summit, UAE Vice-President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum met Qatar's al-Thani and described him as a "brother and friend" in a sign of warming ties between the Gulf rivals.

Iraqi special forces deployed in Baghdad, particularly around the Green Zone, seat of the Iraqi government, where the summit was held. Participants were expected to discuss a regional water crisis, the war in Yemen and a severe economic and political crisis in Lebanon that has brought the country to the point of collapse.

Lebanon, which has been without a functional government for the past year, and Syria, which has been suspended from the Arab League since 2011, were not represented at the meeting.

Macron described Saturday's meeting as "historic," showcasing Iraq's return to stability following the ruinous war against the Islamic State group, which was defeated in 2017.

Sunday's meeting was a chance for Iraqi leaders to underscore their recent efforts to portray Iraq as a neutral mediator in the region's crises and re-engage with the world after decades of conflict.

"Iraq, which for years has been a headline for war and conflicts, is hosting leaders and representatives of the region today to affirm their support for Iraqi sovereignty and prosperity," said President Barham Salih.

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Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Tuesday condemned criticism of Lebanon's Christian Maronite patriarch after he expressed opposition to Hezbollah, warning that insults must be avoided to safeguard national unity.

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Following a cross-border salvo between Israel and Hezbollah, Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai was sharply critical of Hezbollah on Sunday, saying no group should decide on war and peace and urging the army to halt rocket fire from the south.

The border flare-up on Friday drew criticism from Hezbollah's opponents in Lebanon, where hardship is mounting due to a crippling financial meltdown.

Aoun – a Maronite ally of Hezbollah – condemned the campaigns to which he said Rai was being subjected and emphasized that freedom of expression was protected by the constitution during a phone call between the two, the presidency said.

Other views should "remain in the political frame and should not tend to insult or offend, to safeguard national unity and guarantee general stability in the country," Aoun said.

Rai said that while Lebanon had not decided to make peace with Israel, neither had it decided to go to war and Lebanon did not want to be embroiled in military actions that would "draw destructive Israeli responses."

Without naming Hezbollah, Rai urged the army to halt rocket attacks from Lebanon "not out of concern for Israel's safety, but out of concern for Lebanon's safety."

While Hezbollah has not commented on Rai's comments, its supporters accused him of surrender and supporting Zionism on social media.

Hezbollah said it had fired rockets into open ground near Israeli forces in the disputed Shebaa Farms area on Friday in retaliation for Israeli air strikes in Lebanon a day earlier that had also hit open ground.

Tension at the border began on Wednesday with a rocket strike from Lebanon for which no group claimed responsibility and on which Hezbollah has not commented.

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Lebanon's prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri has presented a new cabinet proposal to President ichel Aoun and said he was awaiting his response on Thursday in a move that could end nine months of deadlock as the country faces economic collapse.

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Veteran Sunni politician Hariri has presented multiple proposals to Aoun, an ally of Iran-backed Shi'ite group Hezbollah, over the past months, but they have been unable to agree on a list.

"Now is the moment of truth," Hariri, who has been at loggerheads with Aoun over the naming of ministers since he was appointed in October, told reporters on Wednesday after the meeting.

Aoun said in a statement he would study the proposal that contained "new names and a new distribution for portfolios and sects from what was previously agreed" to reach a decision.

The proposal is for 24 specialist technocrat ministers, in line with a French initiative that envisioned a government capable of enacting reforms that could unlock much needed foreign aid to rescue the nation.

The previous proposals have also been for a technocrat team belonging to different sects. It was not immediately clear specifically how the new line-up differed or what would happen if Aoun rejected it.

However, Wednesday's proposal is seen as Hariri's last attempt to form a cabinet as he was widely expected to give up on his efforts after a trip to long-time backer Egypt.

Saudi-owned Al Hadath television reported earlier that Cairo had asked him not to stand down, citing its own sources.Sources in Cairo said Egypt had promised economic and political support for a new government and that a delegation would travel to Beirut soon.

If the cabinet were rejected and Hariri quit, it would leave the country having to seek another Sunni willing to replace him.

Under a sectarian power-sharing system, Lebanon's president must be a Maronite Christian and the prime minister a Sunni Muslim. With less than a year to an anticipated parliamentary election, few figures might be willing to step forward.

Lebanon has been without a government since the last one resigned in the aftermath of the Aug. 4 Beirut port blast that killed more than 200 people, injured thousands of others and destroyed swathes of the city.

The deadlock has deepened the financial crisis, dubbed by the World bank as one of the deepest depressions of modern history.

"For me, this government can start to rescue the country and stop the collapse," Hariri said.

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Two of the main contenders to become Iran's president, hardline judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi and former parliament speaker Ali Larijani, registered on Saturday to run in next month's election.

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The June 18 election to succeed President Hassan Rouhani is seen as a test of the legitimacy of the country's clerical rulers who are hoping for a high turnout. Rouhani is barred by term limits from running again.

But voter interest may be hit by rising discontent over an economy that has been crippled by US sanctions reimposed after Washington exited a nuclear deal between Iran and major powers three years ago.

Raisi is a 60-year-old mid-ranking cleric in Iran's Shiite Muslim establishment. Appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as head of the judiciary in March 2019, he has emerged as one of the country's most powerful figures and a contender to succeed Khamenei.

Larijani, a former nuclear negotiator and an adviser to Khamenei, is hoping to secure backing from both moderates and hardliners and bridge the gap between them.

"I have come as an independent to the stage to make changes in the executive management of the country and to fight poverty, corruption, humiliation and discrimination," Raisi was quoted as saying in a statement by local media before registering.

"I have come to form a strong people's government for a strong Iran" with the help of "the brave youth," Raisi said, apparently alluding to recent comments by Khamenei who said he expected a "capable and energetic government" to come to power.

The judiciary chief lost to Rouhani in the 2017 presidential election.

Reformists and rights activists say they are alarmed by Raisi's background as a hardline judge, especially during the 1980s when he was one of four judges who imposed death penalties on thousands of political prisoners.

Raisi said his government "will not lose one moment to lift the oppressive sanctions."

First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, a moderate ally of Rouhani, also registered to run.

Registration of candidates ended on Saturday, after which entrants will be screened for their political and Islamic qualifications by the 12-member Guardian Council vetting body, which has in the past disqualified many moderates and reformers. Six of the members of the hardline body are named by Khamenei.

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Arms imports to the Middle East rose by a quarter in the decade to 2020 even though arms sales globally remained stable over the same period, a Swedish watchdog said Monday.

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The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, said the Middle East figures were driven chiefly by the world's largest arms importer, Saudi Arabia, which increased its purchases by 61%. Egypt's imports rose 136% and Qatar's 361%.

SIPRI said the international sale of major arms stayed at the same level during the period from 2011-2020. The watchdog said "substantial increases in transfers by three of the top five arms exporters – the United States, France and Germany – were largely offset by declining Russian and Chinese arms exports."

For the first time since 2001–2005, the volume of deliveries of major arms between countries had not increased, SIPRI said, but added that international arms sales remain close to the highest level since the end of the Cold War.

"It is too early to say whether the period of rapid growth in arms transfers of the past two decades is over," said Pieter D. Wezeman, a senior researcher with SIPRI in a statement.

"For example, the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could see some countries reassessing their arms imports in the coming years. However, at the same time, even at the height of the pandemic in 2020, several countries signed large contracts for major arms."

Middle East countries imported 25% more arms in the second half of the decade than they did in the first, SIPRI said. It said it was chiefly due to regional strategic competition among several Gulf region states.

In its report, the body said that the United States remains the largest arms exporter and had increasing its global share of arms exports from 32% to 37% between the first and second halves of the decade. That further widened the gap between the US and second largest arms exporter Russia.

France and Germany were the third and fourth largest exporters and they, too, experienced substantial growth.

SIPRI is a Stockholm-based independent think tank, partly funded by the Swedish government. Created in 1966, its research is focused on global security, arms control and disarmament.

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A prominent Lebanese Shiite publisher who criticized Hezbollah was shot dead in a car in southern Lebanon on Thursday, the first such killing of a high-profile activist in years.

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A judge said the body of Lokman Slim had four bullets in the head and one in the back. A security source said his phone was found on the side of a road.

They said the motive was unclear.

Slim, who was in his late 50s, ran a research center, made documentaries with his wife and led efforts to build an archive on Lebanon's 1975-1990 sectarian civil war.

He spoke against what he described as the Iranian-backed, Shiite Hezbollah's intimidation tactics and attempts to monopolize Lebanese politics.

His sister suggested Slim had been murdered because of this. He was last seen after visiting a poet friend. His wife said he had gone missing overnight.

Hezbollah said it condemned the killing, which Lebanese officials, including the president, called an assassination.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken termed it a "heinous assassination" and called for Slim's killers to be brought swiftly to justice.

"It is cowardly and unacceptable to resort to violence, threats, and intimidation as a means of subverting the rule of law or suppressing freedom of expression and civic activism," Blinken said in a statement.

Human rights groups, the United Nations and other Western diplomats all demanded an investigation. "We deplore the prevailing culture of impunity," EU ambassador Ralph Tarraf tweeted.

A Lebanese press freedom center, SKeyes, said it feared a cover-up of the crime and more attempts to eliminate "symbols of free political thought."

The center was founded after a car bomb killed journalist Samir Kassir in 2005, at a time when a series of assassinations hit Lebanon targeting critics of Syria's 15-year domination.

At Slim's family home in Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah holds sway, relatives sat in shock. Some wept in silence. One relative said they had found out about his death from a news alert while at a police station.

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"What a big loss. And they lost a noble enemy too ... It's rare for someone to argue with them and live among them with respect," his sister Rasha told reporters, without naming Hezbollah.

She said he had not mentioned any threats. "Killing is the only language they are fluent in," she added. "I don't know how we will go on with our work ... It will be hard."

In an interview last month on Saudi Arabia's al-Hadath TV, Slim said he believed Damascus and its ally Hezbollah had a role in the port blast that ripped through Beirut in August, killing 200 people and wounding thousands.

Hezbollah has denied any links to the explosion.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun, a political ally of Hezbollah, said he had ordered an investigation into Thursday's crime, which came exactly six month since the port blast. The official investigation into the explosion has yet to yield results.

Former premier Saad al-Hariri, whose father's assassination sparked regional turmoil in 2005, said Slim had been clearer than most in identifying the source of danger to the nation.

Slim's criticism of Hezbollah faced rebuke from its supporters, who called him "an embassy Shiite," accusing him of being a tool of the United States.

"His murder is a very big loss for Lebanon, for culture," said Hazem Saghieh, a well-known Lebanese journalist. "He was one of a few who only knew how to speak his mind."

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Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday rejected as "warmongering lies" an assertion by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that Iran has ties to the Islamist terrorist group al-Qaida.

"[With] fictitious Iran 'declassifications' and AQ [al-Qaida] claims, [Pompeo] is pathetically ending his disastrous career with more warmongering lies," Zarif tweeted.

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"No one is fooled. All 9/11 terrorists came from @SecPompeo's favorite ME destinations; NONE from Iran," Zarif said.

Pompeo said on Tuesday that al-Qaida had established a new home base in Iran and the United States had fewer options in dealing with the group now it was "burrowed inside" that country.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said: "Iran has been a victim of US state terrorism and affiliated groups for years and has had a clear ...record in the fight against al-Qaida and Islamic State," state media reported.

Iran's state religion is Shiite Islam, and the country views itself as a sworn enemy of Sunni Islamist militant groups such as Islamic State and al-Qaida. However, US officials have accused it in the past of providing shelter to some al-Qaida figures.

The New York Times reported in November that al-Qaida's Abu Muhammad al-Masri, accused of helping mastermind the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa, was gunned down by Israeli operatives in Iran. Iran denied the report, saying there were no al-Qaida "terrorists" on its soil.

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Cleric Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim, living in Iran, said he was against normalization between Arab countries and Israel, in a statement published by dissolved Bahraini opposition party al-Wefaq, a group close to Qassim.

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The accords between Israel and the UAE last month, and between Israel and Bahrain on Friday, go against the will of the people, he said.

"There is a great divergence between the rulers and the ruled in thought, mind, aims and interests. Governments are experiencing a psychological defeat and want to impose it on the people, and the people have to resist this defeat," Qassim said.

A joint statement by a group of Bahraini political and civil society associations, including the Bahrain Bar Association, on Sunday, stood against the deal.

"What results from normalization will not enjoy popular backing, in line with what generations of Bahrainis have been brought up on in terms of adherence to the Palestinian cause," the statement said.

The head of Bahrain's highest court ordered judiciary employees not to criticize government policy or express opinions harming national unity, al-Bilad newspaper reported on Sunday.

Bahrainis have previously criticized their government's engagements with Israel, including last June's conference in Manama to launch a US-led $50 billion economic formula for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Parliament last April joined social media calls to stop Israeli business and government officials attending an international entrepreneurship conference. The delegation did not attend.

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