Senior Iran cleric on Assembly of Experts shot dead in bank

By JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An armed guard at a bank in northern Iran calmly walked up behind a senior Shiite cleric and shot the ayatollah to death. That’s according to surveillance footage of the attack Wednesday, the most-senior clergyman slain amid months of unrest. The killing of Ayatollah Abbas Ali Soleimani stunned both onlookers in the bank and the wider Islamic Republic, where the cleric served on the country’s Assembly of Experts that selects and oversees the country’s supreme leader. It comes after mass protests and a bloody security force crackdown on demonstrators following the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Authorities offered no immediate motive for the attack