List of Iranian assassinations

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List of Iranian assassinations refers to a list of alleged and confirmed assassinations, reported to have been conducted by the Islamic Republic of Iran and previously by the Pahlavi Dynasty, as well as and several resistance opposition groups.

It includes attempts on notable persons who were reported to have been specifically targeted by the various Iranian security and intelligence, most notably Kurdish dissidents of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran in 1980s and 1990s.

Prior to the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, the Organization of Intelligence and National Security also allegedly performed a number of political motivated assassinations against dissidents and opposition leaders.

## By Pahlavi regime (1953–1979)

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Date  | City  | Country  | Target  | Position  | Killer

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12 August 1970  | Baghdad |  Iraq | Teymur Bakhtiar | Former founder of SAVAK.  | Alleged SAVAK operation.
29 June 1976  |  |  Iran | Hamid Ashraf | Leader of Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas.  | A SAVAK operation.

## By the Islamic Republic of Iran

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Date  | City  | Country  | Target  | Position  | Killer

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7 December 1979  | Paris |  France | Shahriar Shafiq | Head of the Iran Azad Group, nephew of the last Shah of Iran | Muslim Liberation Group
22 July 1980  | Bethesda, Maryland |  United States | Ali Akbar Tabatabaei | President of the Iran Freedom Foundation, former press attache to the Iranian embassy  | Dawud Salahuddin
7 February 1984  | Paris |  France | Gholam Ali Oveisi | former Chief Commander of the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces | Islamic Jihad Organization
19 May 1987  | Vienna |  Austria | Hamid Reza Chitgar | Representative of Labor Party of Iran | Suspected Iranian agents
13 July 1989  | Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou | Head of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan
Abdullah Ghaderi Azar[1][2] | Assistant to the Head of Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan
1 April 1990  | Nynäshamn |  Sweden | Karim Mohammedzadeh | Iranian Kurdish dissident  | Reza Taslimi
24 April 1990  | Coppet |  Switzerland | Kazem Rajavi | Representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.Former Ambassador of Iran to the UN  | Suspected Iranian agents
15 August 1990  | Konya |  Turkey | Elî Kaşifpûr | Member central committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran
6 September 1990  | Västerås |  Sweden | Efat Ghazi | Member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran
6 August 1991  | Suresnes |  France | Shapour Bakhtiar | former Prime Minister of Iran. Head of the National Resistance Movement of Iran | Ali Vakili Rad
7 August 1992  | Bonn |  Germany | Fereydoun Farrokhzad | Iranian dissident  | Suspected Iranian agents
17 September 1992  | Berlin | Sadegh Sharafkandi | Head of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan | Mykonos restaurant assassinations
Fattah Abdoli | One of the leaders of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan
Homayoun Ardalan
Nouri Dehkordi[3]
6 July 1996  | Stockholm |  Sweden | Kamran Hedayati | Iranian Kurdish dissident  | Suspected Iranian agents
15 December 2015  | Almere |  Netherlands | Mohammad-Reza Kolahi Samadi | People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK)  | Suspected Iranian agents
29 April 2017  | Istanbul |  Turkey | Saeed Karimian | Iranian television executive, owner of Dubai-based GEM TV | VAJA
8 November 2017  | The Hague |  Netherlands | Ahmad Mola Nissi[4][5] | Arab Struggle Movement  | Suspected Iranian agents

## By Resistance Opposition groups

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Date  | City  | Country  | Target  | Description  | Killer

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11 March 1946  | Tehran |  Iran | Ahmad Kasravi | Iranian linguist, historian and Democrat Party member  | Fada'iyan-e Islam
5 November 1949  | Abdolhossein Hazhir | Prime Minister of Iran
7 March 1951  | Haj Ali Razmara
27 January 1965  | Hassan Ali Mansur
23 April 1979  |  Iran | Mohammad-Vali Gharani | Chief-of-Staff of the Iranian Army | Forghan group
1 May 1979  | Morteza Motahhari | President of Council of Islamic Revolution
2 November 1979  | Tabriz | Mohammad Ali Qazi Tabatabaei | Representative of the Supreme Leader in East Azerbaijan | People's Mujahedin of Iran
28 June 1981  | Tehran | Mosa Kalantari | Ministry of Roads & Urban Development
Mohammad Beheshti | Chief Justice of Iran
Mohammad Montazeri | member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards
30 August 1981  | Mohammad-Ali Rajai | President of Iran
Mohammad-Javad Bahonar | Prime Minister of Iran
21 September 1981  | Tabriz | Mir Asadollah Madani | Representative of the Supreme Leader in East Azerbaijan
22 August 1998  | Tehran | Asadollah Lajevardi | Iranian prosecutor
10 April 1999  | Ali Sayad Shirazi | Iranian Army Commander

## See also

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* Chain murders of Iran
* Targeted Killing in International Law

## References

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1. ^ "Gunmen Kill Kurdish Exiles Holding a Meeting in Vienna". The New York Times. 1989-07-15. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-06-12.
2. ^ "Kurdish leader killed in Vienna - UPI Archives". UPI. Retrieved 2025-06-12.
3. ^ "Funeral of Kurdish politician in Berlin". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-07-09. Retrieved 2025-06-12.
4. ^ Berg, Stephanie Van Den (2017-12-12). "Be careful, murdered Iranian activist's daughter tells European exiles". Reuters. Retrieved 2025-06-12.
5. ^ "Three suspects arrested in connection with murder of Iranian activist in 2017 | NL Times". nltimes.nl. 2025-05-16. Retrieved 2025-06-12.