The repercussions of the slapping incident involving Zain al-Abidin Khurram Razavi, the new governor of East Azerbaijan Province in northern Iran, continue to resonate among both opposition and pro-government circles in Iran. Recent reports from local media indicated that the assailant was Ayyub Ali Zadeh, an official in the Revolutionary Guard. The bizarre reason for the slap, according to Iran International, was due to a man in the province vaccinating his wife instead of a woman doing so.
An investigation has been launched, as Iranian authorities opened an inquiry on Saturday following the incident where the governor faced slaps and shoves while delivering a speech at his inauguration ceremony, as reported by the official news agency IRNA. The region's prosecutor, Babak Mahboubi-Ali Lu, stated that his office issued an urgent order to investigate the assault on Razavi.
A video circulated widely showed the governor speaking from a podium before an individual approached him and struck him forcefully on the face, followed by a shove, prompting several men to intervene and forcibly remove the assailant from the hall. The event took place during a ceremony attended by Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi, which was dedicated to introducing the new governor, appointed by President Ebrahim Raisi late last week.
Khurram, 55 years old, was previously a brigadier general in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard before his appointment to the position in the border province adjoining Azerbaijan and Armenia in northwest Iran, according to the IRNA agency. However, the agency did not clarify the identity of the assailant or if he was arrested, but noted that he was among the "Ashura headquarters" members of the Revolutionary Guard and that his motives were personal.
