An unidentified attacker shot dead Iranian Deputy industries minister Safdar Rahmat Abadi in Tehran on Sunday evening, the state news agency IRNA reported. It said the minister had been shot in the head and chest as he got into his car in the east of the capital.
Witnesses said the incident happened at around 7:50 pm (local time), IRNA said. "Investigations show that two shots were fired from inside the vehicle," the agency quoted a police official as saying.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Rahmatabadi, whose portfolion included mining and commerce, was not a well-known public figure. He had served a similar role under the country's previous president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
This was the second attack in recent days on a government official in Iran. On Wednesday, a gunman killed an Iranian state prosecutor in a restive south-eastern province of Sistan Baluchistan, near the country's border with Pakistan.