Numerous civilians, including men, women, children, government officials, activists, secular intellectuals and clerics have been victims of assassination, terrorism, or violence against non-combatants, over the course of modern Iranian history. Among the most notable acts of terrorism in Iran in the 20th century have been the 1978 Cinema Rex fire and the 1990s chain murders of Iran.
The only Ayatollah to be assassinated by a foreign government was Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on 28 February 2026, during the 2026 Iran war, which started earlier that day. Other Iranian officials were killed during the strikes as well.
Several Iranian prime ministers, president, and ministers were also assassinated by militant groups during the 20th century. Some notable victims include Prime Ministers Mohammad Javad Bahonar, Shapour Bakhtiar, Amir-Abbas Hoveida, Abdolhossein Hazhir and Haj Ali Razmara. Also President Mohammad Ali Rajai, Head of Judiciary Mohammad Beheshti, Chief Commander of the Army Ali Sayad Shirazi, and Minister of Labor Dariush Forouhar.
Alleged, suspected, or admitted perpetrators of terrorism in Iran span a wide range, including Islamic fundamentalists/revivalists (Fadayan-e Islam, Jundallah, Cinema Rex fire, Taliban in a 1998 killing of Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan), Israel or other foreign enemies of the Islamic Republic's nuclear program (Assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists), unidentified anti-Shia extremists (2010 Chabahar suicide bombing, 1994 Imam Reza shrine bomb explosion), Islamist enemies of the Islamic Republic, possibly with help from foreign enemies (Haft-e Tir bombing), hardline Iranian officials (Chain murders of Iran).
Attacks on Iranians Assassinations in the Qajar era Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar was assassinated on 17 June 1797 in the city of Susa (Shushi), the capital of Karabakh khanate, after about 16 years in power. While Mohammad Khan Qajar's assassination might be called part of the ancient practice of palace intrigue, or motivated simply by fear and/or revenge, the 1 May 1896 killing of Naser al-Din Shah QajarClay, Catrine (2006), King, Kaiser, Tsar. London: John Murray conforms more closely to the modern phenomenon of terrorism as a tool of a political movement. Naser al-Din was shot and killed by Mirza Reza Kermani, a follower of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, an early promoter of modern Pan-Islamism. Al-Afghani is reported to have said of the assassination, "surely it was a good deed to kill this bloodthirsty tyrant."Nikki R. Keddie, Sayyid Jamal ad-Din "al-Afghani": A Political Biography (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972), p.412
Fadayan-e Islam
Fadayan-e Islam was an Islamic fundamentalist secret society founded in Iran in 1946, by a theology student named Navab Safavi. Safavi sought to "purify Islam" in Iran by ridding it of "corrupting individuals" by means of carefully planned assassinations of certain leading intellectual and political figures.Taheri, The Spirit of Allah, (1985), p.98 Some of its targets in the late 1940s and early 1950s included secularist author Ahmad Kasravi, former prime minister Abdolhossein Hazhir, Education and Culture Minister Ahmad Zangeneh, and Prime Minister Haj-Ali Razmara. Such was the group's influence and success that it was able to use its powerful clerical supporters to free its assassins from punishment. In the mid-1950s, after the consolidation of the power of the Mohammad Reza Shah, the group was suppressed and Safavi executed. The group survived as supporters of the Ayatollah Khomeini and the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
1978 Cinema Rex fire
On 19 August 1978, more than 420 people were killed when the Cinema Rex in Abadan was set on fire during a showing of the movie The Deer. The incident was initially blamed on Muhammad Reza Pahlavi's regime, which contributed to the Shah's overthrow.Afkhami, R. Gholam (2009) The life and times of the Shah University of California Press, page 465 & 459, Ansari, M. Ali (2007) Modern Iran: the Pahlavis and after Pearson Education, page 259, Federal Research Division (2004) Iran A Country Study Kessinger Publishing, page 78, Bahl, Taru, Syed, M.H (2003) Encyclopaedia of the Muslim World Anmol Publications PVT. LTD., 2003, page 105,
Haft-e Tir bombing and the 1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing
On 28 June 1981, a bomb killed 70 high-ranking officials of the Islamic Republic Party, including Chief Justice Mohammad Beheshti who was the second highest official after Ayatollah Khomeini at the time. The Iranian government said the culprits could be SAVAK, or the Iraqi regime, or the People's Mojahedin of Iran. According to Kenneth Katzman, "there has been much speculation among academics and observers that these bombings may have actually been planned by senior IRP leaders, to rid themselves of rivals within the IRP."
On 30 August 1981, the office of Prime Minister Mohammad Javad Bahonar was bombed, killing Bahonar, President Mohammad Ali Rajai, and six other Iranian government officials. The briefcase bombing came two months after the Hafte Tir bombing. According to sources, nobody "knew exactly who had been in the room at the time of the detonation." Eventually, there were three participants that had been unaccounted for, including Masoud Keshmiri, President Rajai, and Prime Minister Bahonar. It was later revealed that both Rajai and Bahonar had died in the explosion. More than twenty suspects were identified in the subsequent investigation, including Masoud Keshmiri, Ali Akbar Tehrani, Mohammad Kazem Peiro Razawi, Khosro Ghanbari Tehrani, Javad Ghadiri, Mohsen Sazgara, Taghi Mohammadi, and Habibollah Dadashi.
The 1998 Chain murders
Since the founding of the Islamic Republic, dissidents in Iran have complained of unsolved murders and disappearances of intellectuals and political activists who had been critical of the Islamic Republic system in some way. In 1998 these complaints came to a head with the killing of three dissident writers, political leader Dariush Forouhar and his wife in the span of two months, in what became known as the Chain Murders or 1998 Serial Murders of Iran."Killing of three rebel writers turns hope into fear in Iran", Douglas Jehl, The New York Times, December 14, 1998, p. A6Green Left – Regular Feature: Write On: Letters to Green Left Weekly The deputy security official of the Ministry of Information, Saeed Emami, was arrested for the killings and later committed suicide, although many believe higher level officials were responsible for the killings. According to Iranterror.com, "it was widely assumed that [Emami] was murdered in order to prevent the leak of sensitive information about Ministry of Intelligence and Security operations, which would have compromised the entire leadership of the Islamic Republic."
Attacks by Taliban and Sunni extremists 1994 Mashhad bombing
On 20 June 1994, the explosion of a bomb in a prayer hall of Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad killed at least 25 people. The Iranian government officially blamed Mujahedin-e-Khalq for the incident to avoid sectarian conflict between Shias and Sunnis. However, the Pakistani daily The News International reported on 27 March 1995, "Pakistani investigators have identified a 24-year-old religious fanatic Abdul Shakoor residing in Lyari in Karachi, as an important Pakistani associate of Ramzi Yousef. Abdul Shakoor had intimate contacts with Ramzi Ahmed Yousef and was responsible for the June 20, 1994, massive bomb explosion at the shrine Imam Ali Reza in Mashhad."SIPAH-E-SAHABA PAKISTAN, LASHKAR-E-JHANGVI, BIN LADEN & RAMZI YOUSEF According to the Jamestown Foundation Terrorism Monitor, "a report produced by the [Iranian] Ministry of Intelligence in October 1994 identified the culprits as operatives of Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Jhangvi the sister organization of Sipah-e-Sahaba."
1998 Mazar-i-Sharif killings
On 8 August 1998, the Taliban, assisted by Al-Qaeda, attacked the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, killing 11 Iranian diplomats and journalists along with thousands of Afghan civilians, in what was considered an attack motivated by takfir against Shias.Human Rights Watch Report, "Afghanistan, the massacre in Mazar-e-Sharif", November 1998
More infuriating for Iran was that Pakistan's ISI had guaranteed their security. Tehran had earlier contacted the Pakistan government to guarantee the security of their Consulate, because the Iranians knew that ISI officers had driven into Mazar with the Taliban. The Iranians had thought that Dost Mohammed's unit had been sent to protect them so had welcomed them at first. .... At first the Taliban refused to admit the whereabouts of the diplomats but then as international protests and Iranian fury increased, they admitted that the diplomats had been killed, not on official orders but by renegade Taliban. But reliable sources said that Dost Mohammed had spoken to Mullah Omar on his wireless to ask whether the diplomats should be killed and Omar had given the go-ahead."Rashid, Ahmed, Taliban : Militant Islam, Oil & Fundamentalism in Central Asia, Yale University Press, 2000 p.74-5
Iran was also angry at the lack of support from Western countries, particularly America, which considered Iran an enemy. Referring to the attack, Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei alleges that "neither the Americans, nor the Europeans, who are now pursuing Al-Qaeda agents as members of the most dangerous terror organization, showed any reaction at all."We Cannot Believe Muslims Are Behind Terrorism in Iraq: Leader
The Taliban were also thought to have "secretly" backed anti-regime Iranian groups. These groups received weapons and support from the Taliban and "Iranians were convinced that the Pakistanis were also sponsoring them." The group sought to overthrow the Shia Iranian government, despite the fact that Iran was overwhelmingly Shia.Rashid, Ahmed, Taliban : Militant Islam, Oil & Fundamentalism in Central Asia, Yale University Press, 2000 p.203
The Iranian government responded to the killings by putting its forces on alert and moving troops to the Afghan border, though tensions would subside.
Jundallah (since 2003)
Jundallah, a Sunni Islamist Baloch insurgent organization based in Balochistan, claims to be fighting for the rights of Sunni in Iran. It is believed to have 1,000 fighters and claims to have killed 400 Iranian soldiers. The group has been identified as a terrorist organization by Iran and Pakistan2nd blast in 3 days hits Iranian city, 16 February 2007 Al-Qaeda's New Face, August 2004 and many believe it is linked to Al-Qaeda.The legacy of Nek Mohammed By Syed Saleem Shahzad It is also believed to receive support from the US government.
2007 Zahedan bombing
A car filled with explosives stopped in front of a bus full of Revolutionary Guards in Ahmabad district, Zahedan, Sistan-Baluchestan Province at 6:30 a.m. on 14 February 2007. The car, parked in the middle of the road, forced the bus to stop. The car's driver and passengers then got out of the car and used motorbikes to leave the scene while they shot at the bus. A few seconds later the bombs exploded, killing 18 Guards. Guards commander Qasem Rezaei said, "This blind terrorist operation led to the martyrdom of 18 citizens of Zahedan." Rezaei attributed the attack to "insurgents and elements of insecurity." Majid Razavi, an Interior Ministry official, said Iranian police arrested a suspect within an hour of the bombing.Report: Bomb kills 18 Revolutionary Guardsmen in Iran The Washington Post