Newsman: Iran’s top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was killed Friday in an alleged assassination that the country’s foreign minister linked to Israel. Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif called the death “cowardice — with serious indications of Israeli role.”
Iranian state media said the killing appeared to be an assassination. Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami was quoted by Iran’s semi-official news agency ISNA as saying Fakhrizadeh was targeted by gunfire and a Nissan vehicle explosion, before a firefight ensued.
Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Brennan, condemned the killing of an Iranian scientist believed to be linked to Tehran’s nuclear program Friday, calling it “criminal” and “highly reckless.” John Brennan served as the CIA director of the Obama administration.
Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Brennan
“This was a criminal act & highly reckless,” Brennan wrote on Twitter Friday afternoon. “It risks lethal retaliation & a new round of regional conflict.”
Fakhrizadeh’s assassination comes less than a year after Gen. Qassem Soleimani was targeted by the U.S. military in a drone strike, killing one of Iran’s topic officials and pushing U.S.-Iran relations to the brink after Iran vowed retaliation.
Fakhrizadeh was head of the research center of new technology in the elite Revolutionary Guards, and was a leading figure in Iran’s nuclear program for many years. He is considered one of the masterminds of Iran’s controversial nuclear program.
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, died after his car was apparently ambushed in a district east of Tehran. Photos from the scene showed the shattered windshield of a car, and blood on the road.
“Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today,” Zarif said in a tweet. “This cowardice — with serious indications of Israeli role — shows desperate warmongering of perpetrators Iran calls on int’l community — and especially EU — to end their shameful double standards & condemn this act of state terror.”
The Trump administration said it was closely monitoring the apparent assassination. The death “would be a big deal,” a US official told CNN.
US President Donald Trump re-tweeted prominent Israeli journalist Yossi Melman, who wrote: “Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi assassinated in Damavand, east of Tehran according to reports in Iran. He was head of Iran’s secret military program and wanted for many years by Mossad. His death is a major psychological and professional blow for Iran.”
Several top-level Iranian officials have condemned the attack and threatened to retaliate. The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, Hossein Salami, issued a statement calling the killing a “terrorist operation”, according to ISNA.
“The blinded enemies of Iran, particularly the planners and coordinators of this cowardly act of terrorism must understand that such savagery will not cause a single wrinkle in our collective will to conquer bright scientific horizons, and be aware that the difficult revenge awaiting them is already an integral part of our work!,” he said, according to the news agency.
Ali Akbar Velayati, international affairs adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a statement: “The Iranian nation will avenge the blood of this great martyr from the terrorist elements and their supporters.”
The Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, warned of “severe revenge” against “the killers” of Fakhrizadeh, state-news agency IRNA reported.
“The assassination of this capable and worthy manager, although it was a bitter and heavy blow to the country’s defense complex, but the enemies know that the path started by the martyr Fakhrizadeh will never be stopped,” Bagheri said, according to IRNA.
In April 2018, Netanyahu mentioned Fakhrizadeh by name when he unveiled a nuclear archive he said Mossad agents had taken from Tehran. He called him the head of a secret nuclear project called Project Amad. “Remember that name, Fakhrizadeh,” Netanyahu told reporters.
Iran began to withdraw from its commitments to the 2015 landmark nuclear deal in 2019, a year after US President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement and unleashed crippling sanctions on the country.
In the last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency documented several new breaches of the agreement. Earlier this week, Iran said it had begun injecting Uranium Hexafluoride gas into centrifuges at its Natanz facility.
Fakhrizadeh is the most prominent face of nuclear program that has been the main flashpoint in an international dispute. He is mentioned in multiple reports by the US State Department and the International Atomic Energy Agency as holding deep insight into Iran’s nuclear capabilities, CNN reported.
There are just over 50 days left in the Trump administration, before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated and diplomatic contacts between Tehran and Washington are likely to pick up again the Iran Nuclear program issues.
