Iran Guards say Sunni cleric killed in northwest, blame separatists

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday that a Sunni Kurdish cleric was killed in a northwestern province, blaming separatist groups for the attack. The Guards said the killing was an attempt to sow division between Sunnis and Shias. The timing of the incident was not immediately confirmed.

Who was the cleric killed in northwest Iran?

The cleric was named as Mohammad Nezhati, described by the Guards as having been killed in what they called a terrorist attack. He was also a member of the Basij, the volunteer paramilitary force operating under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Guards attributed the killing to groups they labelled "Zionist-American separatist" forces.

Who does Iran mean by 'separatist groups'?

Iranian authorities commonly use the term "separatist groups" to refer to Kurdish opposition factions based in Iraq's Kurdistan region. Tehran has long accused these groups of maintaining links to the United States and Israel. The Guards did not name a specific organization in connection with Nezhati's killing.

In a statement, the Guards said the attack targeted more than one man. They said it was also a deliberate attempt to divide Muslims, weaken unity between Shias and Sunnis, and destabilize the wider society.

Why is the Sunni-Shia angle significant in Iran?

Iran is a Shia-majority country but has sizeable Sunni communities, particularly in its western and southeastern provinces. The Guards' framing of the killing as a bid to inflame sectarian division reflects long-standing sensitivities around this demographic split. The incident comes as Iran remains at war with the United States, a conflict that began on February 28 after US-Israeli strikes killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.