According to the news agency
RFERL.org, the Iranian security forces closed the Ghoba Mosque" on January 2, 2010, and did not allow Friday prayers to take place. The Ghoba mosque in
Shiraz which is one of the most important in the city, was closed with the aim of "silencing" Ayatollah Dastgheib, who is based there and who has "used the mosque as a platform to deliver sermons fiercely critical of the Islamic republic's current regime". ==Aiding Syrian Government==