At least eight people were killed and 13 others wounded on Saturday when armed assailants opened fire inside the main courthouse in Zahedan, the capital of Iran’s volatile Sistan-Baluchistan province, state media reported.
According to Mizan Online, the news agency of Iran’s judiciary, “unknown gunmen attacked the judicial complex in Zahedan shortly after 10:30 a.m. local time, spraying automatic rifle fire at court employees and civilians before security forces responded.” Three attackers were shot dead during an exchange of fire that lasted nearly twenty minutes, the agency added. The dead include five civilians—two women, a court clerk and two people waiting for hearings—and three of the assailants. Thirteen other victims, among them a teenage boy and two police officers, were transferred to Khatam-ol-Anbia Hospital, where several remain in critical condition.
Video posted by local journalists showed shattered glass, overturned benches, and blood-stained court files strewn across the marble floors. Heavily armed Revolutionary Guard units quickly sealed off the surrounding streets, while police helicopters circled overhead. Interior Ministry officials stated that an investigation was underway and that additional security checkpoints had been established at government buildings throughout the province.
No group immediately claimed responsibility, and authorities have yet to offer a motive. Sistan-Baluchistan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, has long been a hotspot of insurgent activity driven by a toxic mix of ethnic marginalization, religious tension and rampant smuggling. The province is home to Iran’s Baluch minority, predominantly Sunni Muslims in an otherwise Shiite-majority nation. Several Baluch militant organizations, including the separatist Jaish al-Adl, have carried out sporadic bombings and hit-and-run attacks on security forces over the past decade.
Saturday’s assault is among the deadliest to strike Zahedan since a suicide bombing outside a police station killed 11 officers in 2023. In recent months, Tehran has intensified security sweeps, arresting dozens of suspected militants and tightening control over border crossings. However, analysts say poverty—Sistan-Baluchistan’s official unemployment rate is nearly double the national average—continues to fuel anger toward the central government.
Provincial Governor Hossein Modarres-Khiabani condemned the courthouse attack as “a cowardly act meant to sow chaos during the sacred month of Muharram” and vowed a “decisive response.” President Ebrahim Raisi, who is traveling in East Azerbaijan, instructed the Interior and Intelligence Ministries to “identify the masterminds and bring them to justice without delay,” according to a statement released by IRNA.
Strategic Stakes
Beyond its chronic unrest, Sistan-Baluchistan occupies a pivotal place in Iran’s national security calculus. The province straddles the main narcotics route from Afghanistan to the Persian Gulf, making stability vital to Tehran’s counternarcotics efforts. Its 1,100-kilometre frontier forms Iran’s longest land border, and insurgent sanctuaries just across the line in Pakistan have repeatedly tested Tehran-Islamabad relations. Equally important, the province hosts Chabahar, Iran’s only deep-water ocean port and a linchpin of the country’s bid to connect Central Asia with the Indian Ocean while bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. Any sustained violence that undermines confidence in local security threatens multibillion-dollar investments in the port, energy pipelines and the under-construction railway to Afghanistan. For these reasons, pacifying Baluchistan is not merely a local policing challenge but a strategic imperative for Iran’s economic diversification, regional influence, and territorial integrity.