Meeting Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the ‘father of Iran’s nuclear bombs’ who died …



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TEHRAN – military scientist Iran The prominent Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed in an attack on the outskirts of Tehran on Friday. The scientist has been dubbed the “father of the Iranian nuclear bomb” because Western intelligence saw him as the mastermind behind Tehran’s covert efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran denies that Fakhrizadeh was involved in such efforts and that he ever tried to arm uranium enrichment for nuclear power. But he is widely credited with leading what the United Nations atomic watchdog and U.S. intelligence services believe to be a coordinated nuclear weapons program that was halted in 2003. (Read: Imuwan Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Iranian Nuclear Assassinated)

What is known about Fakhrizadeh?

Western officials and experts believe Fakhrizadeh played a key role in Iran’s earlier work to find a way to assemble nuclear warheads behind the facade of its announced civil uranium enrichment program.

Iran denies trying to develop nuclear weapons.

It lives in the shadows under high security and was never available to UN nuclear researchers. Fakhrizadeh rarely, if ever, appeared in public, and few outside of Iran know for sure what he was like, much less did.

He has the rare distinction of being the only Iranian scientist named in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 2015 “final assessment” of open questions about Iran’s nuclear program and whether it is intended to develop bombs.

The report from the UN non-proliferation watchdog said it oversees activities “in support of a possible military dimension to (Iran’s) nuclear program” in the so-called WADA Plan. (Read: Your Assassinated Nuclear Imuwan, Iran: Expect Great Revenge)

A 2011 IAEA report described him as the “Executive Officer” of the AMAD Plan, a central figure supposedly working in Iran to develop the technology and skills necessary for the atomic bomb, and suggested that he may still have a role in those activities.

Israel has also described the AMAD Plan as Iran’s secret nuclear weapons program and said it seized a large part of Iran’s nuclear “file” detailing its work.

In an April 2018 televised presentation of the archive, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Fakhrizadeh a leading figure in what he described as covert work with nuclear weapons carried out under the guise of a civilian program.

Citing the files as evidence, Netanyahu said that Israeli agents had recovered a large number of documents from a site in Tehran. At the time, Iran said the documents were false.

“Remember this name, Fakhrizadeh,” Netanyahu said, describing Fakhrizadeh as the head of AMAD. Netanyahu said that after the closure of AMAD, Fakhrizadeh continued to work at an agency within the Iranian Defense Ministry on “special projects.”

In 2018, broadcaster Kan Israel conducted an interview with former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in which he hinted that Fakhrizadeh could be a target. “I know Fakhrizadeh very well. He doesn’t know how well I know him. If I meet him on the street, I will probably recognize him,” he said.

“He has no immunity, he has no immunity and I don’t think he has immunity.”

What does Iran say?

Iran’s Defense Ministry on Friday identified Fakhrizadeh as the head of the ministry’s Research and Innovation Organization. He is also believed to be a senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The IAEA has always wanted to ask Fakhrizadeh as part of a protracted investigation into whether Iran is conducting investigations into banned nuclear weapons.

According to diplomatic sources with knowledge of the matter, Iran acknowledged the existence of Fakhrizadeh several years ago but said he was a military officer who was not involved in the nuclear program.

The killing of four Iranian scientists linked to the nuclear program between 2010 and 2012 may have strengthened Tehran’s determination not to grant the IAEA access to Fakhrizadeh, fearing that this could lead to information leaking about him and his whereabouts. Iran accuses its nemesis; The United States and Israel are behind the killings.

Fakhrizadeh is also believed to be involved in the development of Iranian ballistic missiles, and an Iranian source said Reuters, Saturday (11/28/2020), who is considered the father of the program.

He was named in a 2007 UN resolution on Iran as involved in nuclear or ballistic missile activities.

What is known of his background?

In May 2011, the opposition groups went into exile; The National Council of Iranian Resistance (NCRI) issued a report by posting a photo of Fakhrizadeh, who has black hair and a short beard. It was impossible to independently verify the photo. (Also read: Israel is accused of being the mastermind behind the assassination of Iran’s nuclear scientists)

NCRI said in its report that Fakhrizadeh, who was born in 1958 in the holy Shiite Muslim city; Qom, is deputy defense minister and brigadier general of the IRCG. He has a doctorate in nuclear engineering and teaches at Imam Hussein University in Iran.

High-level Iranian sources describe Fakhrizadeh as Reuters in 2014 as an “active and expert” dedicated to the advancement of Iran’s technology and enjoying the full support of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The source added that Fakhrizadeh had three passports and traveled frequently, including in Asia, to obtain “updated information” from abroad, but did not elaborate. Western security sources say Iran has long been adept at obtaining nuclear material and knowledge of the international black market.

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