Two veteran Iranian Supreme Court judges, known for handling high-profile cases, were shot dead in Tehran by an assailant who later took his own life.

(Reuters) -Two senior Iranian Supreme Court judges involved in handling espionage and terrorism cases were shot dead in the capital Tehran on Saturday, Iran's judiciary said. It said the attacker killed himself after opening fire at the judges inside the Supreme Court,

Two senior judges in Iran’s Supreme Court were shot dead in Tehran on Saturday in an attack that authorities blamed on the US and Israel.

On Saturday morning, a gunman assassinated two Iranian judges outside the Supreme Court in Tehran. Hujjatoleslam Razini and Hujjatoleslam Moghiseh were martyred in the terrorist attack. The attacker committed suicide immediately after conducting the attack. pic.twitter.com/jImUP1qXun

Assailant kills himself after shooting dead senior justices inside a Supreme Court building in the capital Tehran.

The two judges, Mohammad Moghiseh and Ali Razini, dealt with sensitive cases, a spokesman said. Moghiseh was known to handle death penalty cases for activists.

Their killings, a rare attack targeting the judiciary, also come as Iran faces economic turmoil, the mauling of its Mideast allies by Israel and the return of Donald Trump to the White House on Monday.

An unidentified man assassinated two influential judges before killing himself outside the Supreme Court in Tehran, the judiciary portal Mizan reported on Saturday. The victims were the renowned clerics Ali Razini and Mohammed Moghiseh,