Iran accuses Israel of murdering scientist and seeking ‘chaos’

Iran’s Chief Judge Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi (C) pays tribute to the body of murdered scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh among his family, in the capital Tehran on November 28, 2020. – Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, nicknamed by Israel as the ” father “of Iran’s nuclear program, he died on November 27 after being seriously injured when the assailants attacked his car and participated in a shootout with his bodyguards outside Tehran, according to Iran’s Defense Ministry. The assassination comes less than two months before US President-elect Joe Biden takes office, after four tumultuous years of tough foreign policy in the Middle East under President Donald Trump. (Photo by – / MIZAN NEWS AGENCY / AFP)

TEHRAN – Iran’s president on Saturday accused arch-enemy Israel of acting as a US “mercenary” and seeking to create chaos, vowing that Tehran would avenge the assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist.

The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called for the perpetrators to be punished, while President Hassan Rouhani stressed that the country will seek its revenge in “due time” and will not be plunged into a “trap”.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, dubbed by Israel as the “father” of Iran’s nuclear program, died on Friday after being seriously injured when the attackers attacked his car and participated in a shootout with his bodyguards outside Tehran, according to the Defense Ministry. from Iran.

The assassination comes less than two months before US President-elect Joe Biden takes office, after four tumultuous years of tough foreign policy in the Middle East under President Donald Trump.

“They are thinking of creating chaos, but they must know that we have read their hands and they will not succeed,” Rouhani said.

He blamed the murder on “the evil hands of global arrogance, with the usurping Zionist regime as a mercenary.”

Iran generally uses the term “global arrogance” to refer to the United States.

The students expressed their anger by calling for revenge and burning American and Israeli flags in front of the Iranian Foreign Ministry in Tehran, as well as photographs of Trump and Biden.

Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from a multilateral nuclear deal with the Islamic republic, which sought to contain its atomic ambitions and has reimposed crippling sanctions. But Biden has signaled that his administration may be prepared to join the deal.

“This barbarous assassination shows that our enemies are in stressful weeks, during which they feel … their pressure decreases, the global situation changes,” the Iranian president added.

“The nation of Iran is smarter than falling into the trap of the conspiracy set up by the Zionists.”

– UN calls for moderation –

The United States imposed sanctions on Fakhrizadeh in 2008 for “activities and transactions that contributed to the development of Iran’s nuclear program,” and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once described him as the father of Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

Iran has repeatedly denied seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

The New York Times said a US official and two other intelligence officials confirmed that Israel was behind the attack, without elaborating.

“The enemies of Iran should know that the people of Iran and the officials are more courageous than leaving this criminal act unanswered,” Rouhani said.

“In due time, they will answer for this crime.”

Khamenei called for “punishing the perpetrators and those responsible,” in a short statement on his official website, urging that Fakhrizadeh’s “scientific and technical efforts … in all the fields he was working on” should continue.

Former CIA director John Brennan warned that the assassination ran the risk of sparking a wider conflagration in the Middle East.

“This was a very reckless and criminal act. There is a risk of lethal retaliation and a new round of regional conflict, ”he tweeted.

The United Nations called for restraint.

“We urge restraint and the need to avoid any action that could lead to an escalation of tensions in the region,” said a spokesman. “We condemn any murder or extrajudicial execution.”

– ‘Fuel for fire’ –

Fakhrizadeh, who headed the Defense Ministry’s research and innovation organization, died after doctors failed to revive him after the attack near the town of Absard in Damavand county in eastern Tehran province.

Israel has declined to comment on the killing, but Channel 12 television said the alert level had been raised at its embassies around the world. A spokeswoman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem declined to confirm the report.

Berlin called on “all parties to avoid taking any action that could lead to a new escalation,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman told AFP.

Iran’s ally Syria called it “a terrorist action that the international community must condemn,” in comments by its Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, reported by state media.

Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said the killing “will only add fuel to the fire at a time when the region and the international community are seeking ways to reduce tensions and return to the table of dialogue and diplomacy “.

The Fakhrizadeh assassination is the latest in a series of killings of nuclear scientists in Iran in recent years that the Islamic republic has blamed on Israel.

The Iranian media has provided little information about their work, but the head of Iran’s atomic organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, said they had “good cooperation, especially in the field of nuclear defense.”

He told state television that Fakhrizadeh had a doctorate in “nuclear physics and engineering” and worked on his thesis with Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, the former head of the atomic organization and himself a survivor of an assassination attempt in 2010.

US media reports described Fakhrizadeh as “No. 1 target of Mossad, “Israel’s spy agency, and the” mastermind behind Iran’s nuclear program. “

gsg

Read next

Don’t miss the latest news and information.