Iranian police officer slain in attack; Iran hangs two men over January cop killings
Security forces search for assailants after officer is killed in Iran's southeast; two men executed over the deaths of four officers during anti-government protests
TEHRAN — Iranian police said on Tuesday that one of their officers was killed in an attack by unidentified assailants in the country’s restive southeast, state media reported.
“Following an armed attack by unidentified individuals on a Criminal Investigation Police officer in Saravan county (Sistan-Baluchistan province), Third Lieutenant Hojat Vafakardeh attained the honor of martyrdom,” state television quoted a police statement as saying.
“Efforts by police and security forces to identify and arrest those responsible for this cowardly attack are ongoing,” the statement added.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.
Sistan-Baluchistan province, one of Iran’s poorest, has long been the scene of clashes involving security forces and armed groups, including separatist factions.
The province bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan is home to a large Baluch population, most of whom are Sunni Muslims in predominantly Shia Iran.
On Monday, the Mehr news agency reported that “terrorist groups carried out a cowardly attack on a vehicle carrying several engineers and contractors” in the same area.
Also on Monday, the local headquarters of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said its forces had ambushed “a terrorist team… before carrying out a terrorist operation,” killing one of its members and arresting several others.
On Thursday, the intelligence ministry said its forces had dismantled “four operational cells of a terrorist-takfiri group,” arresting 16 people. Three others were detained for allegedly sending information to “US-Zionist centers,” the ministry said, without providing further details.
In mid-October, two members of Iran’s security forces were killed in separate attacks by gunmen in the region.
Separately, Iranian authorities on Tuesday hanged two men after convicting them of involvement in the killing of four police officers during January protests in central Iran, the judiciary said.
“Amirhossein Maleki and Amirhossein Ebrahimi, two armed perpetrators of the January 2026 crime in Isfahan whose brutal and atrocious actions led to the martyrdom of four police officers, were hanged,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website reported.
The executions were carried out “after their cases underwent a thorough legal review and their death sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court,” following appeals by the defendants, the report said.
A wave of protests erupted in Iran in December over a surge in foreign currency rates and soon escalated into anti-government demonstrations, peaking on January 8 and 9.
Tehran has accused Israel and the United States of fomenting the protests.
According to official figures, more than 3,000 people, including police and security personnel, were killed during the clashes, while rights groups based abroad have cited higher figures.
According to Mizan, the pair “were among the main perpetrators of the crime” and “were armed and present at the scene and had committed multiple criminal acts.”
The judiciary said they “were sentenced to death on charges of moharebeh (waging war against God) and corruption on earth, through actions against national security.”
In early October, authorities executed Alireza Sepahi and Alireza Raissi for their involvement in the same case.
The number of executions in Iran has surged since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran in late February.
Amnesty International says Iran carries out more executions than any country except China.