Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reports two deaths in Mashhad

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced Saturday that two Basij forces were killed in an attack by "assailant elements" in Mashhad following reports of gunfire during the funeral procession of Ali Khamenei. The Guard Corps' Imam Reza base in Mashhad confirmed that two Basij personnel named Seyyed Sajjad Alavi and Mehdi Honarmand were targeted and killed, though the statement did not specify the date of the attack. Reports of gunfire targeting military personnel had been circulated on Thursday, July 9, coinciding with the funeral ceremony held in Mashhad.

• The two Basij forces were on patrol near Sarafrāzān Square in Mashhad, approximately 15 kilometers from the shrine of the eighth Shia Imam, when they were targeted.
• One civilian bystander was also wounded by the assailant elements and transferred to hospital, according to the Guard Corps statement.
• The statement did not explicitly label the attack as "terrorist" but stressed that "the perpetrator or perpetrators of this crime will face justice for their actions.". On Friday, the security and law enforcement deputy of Khorasan Razavi province's governor acknowledged the deaths of two people in the Sarafrāzān area, characterizing the incident as an "armed confrontation" with "personal motives." The judiciary-affiliated Mezan news agency cited Amirollāh Shamqardri as stating that initial investigations indicated the incident began as a two-sided [account appears incomplete in source material].