Iran’s president has accused Israel of killing a high-ranking Iranian nuclear physicist long suspected by the West of planning a secret nuclear bomb program, state television reported.
“Once again, the evil hands of global arrogance were stained with the blood of the mercenary usurping Zionist regime,” President Hassan Rouhani said in a statement, according to the state television report on Saturday.
“The murder of the martyr [Mohsen] Fakhrizadeh shows the despair of our enemies and the depth of their hatred … Their martyrdom will not slow down our achievements. “
Iran’s religious and military rulers have threatened revenge for the murder on Friday of nuclear scientist Fakhrizadeh, who according to Iranian media died in hospital after attackers shot him in his car in Ab-Sard, a suburb in eastern Iraq. Tehran.
A photo from a brochure provided by Iran’s state television shows damage after an attack on Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh’s car near the capital Tehran. [AP]
Fakhrizade, 63, had been a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and was an expert in missile production. He served as head of the Defense Research and Innovation Organization of the Ministry of Defense at the time of his death.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu specifically mentioned Fakhrizadeh by name in a 2018 presentation on Iran’s nuclear program. “Remember this name,” he had said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said there was evidence pointing to Israel’s involvement in the assassination, but it was unclear who exactly carried out the attack.
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Majid Takht Ravanchi, wrote in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council on Friday that several top Iranian scientists had been killed in “terrorist attacks.” during the last decade, and said “certain foreign neighborhoods” were responsible.
He called Fakhrizadeh’s “cowardly” assassination as an attempt to “wreak havoc” in the region and disrupt Iran’s development in the fields of science and technology.
UN urges ‘moderation’
A military adviser to the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also accused Israel of killing Fakhrizadeh to try to provoke a war.
“In the last days of the political life of his … ally [US President Donald Trump], the zionists [Israel] They seek to intensify pressure on Iran and create a full-blown war, ”Commander Hossein Dehghan tweeted.
He said Fakhrizadeh’s work will remain a “nightmare” for Iran’s enemies.
Fakhrizadeh’s death could spark a showdown between Iran and its rivals in the final weeks of Donald Trump’s US presidency and complicate any efforts by President-elect Joe Biden to revive diplomacy with Iran.
Meanwhile, Guterres urged restraint in a statement issued by his spokesman.
“We have taken note of reports that an Iranian nuclear scientist has been killed near Tehran today. We urge restraint and the need to avoid any action that may lead to an escalation of tensions in the region, ”said Guterres spokesman Farhan Haq.
Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig, reporting from Tehran, said Iranian officials are already promising to respond while saying their nuclear program will continue.
But the murder will also raise questions about the country’s “internal security”, Baig said.
“Iran had never allowed [Fakhrizadeh] to be interviewed by the International Atomic Agency, ”Baig said. “His whereabouts were also kept secret.”
The scientist’s assassination came amid new concerns about the amount of enriched uranium Iran produces. Enriched uranium is a key component for both nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons.
Earlier this month, the New York Times reported that Trump had asked his closest associates what “options were available” to take action against Iran’s key nuclear site at Natanz, to which Tehran promised a “crushing response.”
In May 2018, Trump unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and imposed tough economic sanctions that have only intensified since then.
Last year, the Trump administration tried to make it harder for the Biden administration to return to the nuclear deal by reorienting Iranian entities and individuals who have already been sanctioned with new terrorism-related designations.
Iran has previously called the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” strategy an example of “economic and medical terrorism.”
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