Gunmen Hunt Down Iranian Officer, Kill Him During Nationwide Protests
Security forces targeted amid nationwide anti-regime unrest.
A disturbing video has emerged depicting unknown assailants relentlessly pursuing and firing upon a police vehicle in Iran's southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province, forcing it to veer off the road and crash, as widespread protests against economic collapse and the clerical regime continue to escalate across the country.
The deceased officer was identified as Mahmoud Haghighat, a dedicated member of the security forces in Iranshahr county, who succumbed to gunfire in the early hours from armed attackers; the Sunni militant organization Jaish al-Adl, which advocates for enhanced rights for the ethnic Baluch minority and has formed alliances with other groups opposing the establishment, claimed responsibility for the operation.
In a related violent episode near the capital, another police officer named Shahin Dehghan from Malard county west of Tehran was fatally stabbed while engaged in efforts to manage escalating disturbances, as the protests fueled by skyrocketing living costs and currency devaluation marked their twelfth consecutive day of intensity.
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The protests, which have now extended to at least 25 of Iran's 31 provinces with reports of dozens killed in confrontations including security personnel and thousands detained, originated last month when merchants in Tehran's historic Grand Bazaar shuttered their shops in defiance of the rial's dramatic plunge and persistent inflation, rapidly evolving into vocal denunciations of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with slogans demanding systemic change.
Iranian authorities, facing what analysts describe as the regime's most severe internal challenge since the 2022-2023 upheavals triggered by Mahsa Amini's death, have issued stern warnings of zero tolerance, with chief judicial official Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei accusing external forces including the United States and Israel of orchestrating instability, amid a backdrop of crippling sanctions, recent military setbacks, and mounting public fury over governance failures.
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