Iran’s Top Nuclear Scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Killed Near Tehran

Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was killed near the capital Tehran, the country’s Defense Ministry confirmed.

Fakhrizadeh died in hospital after an attack in Absard, Damavand County.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has condemned the murder “as an act of state terror.”

Western intelligence agencies believe Fakhrizadeh is behind Iran’s secret nuclear weapons program.

Diplomats reportedly described him as the “father of the Iranian bomb.”

News of the assassination comes amid renewed concern over the increased amount of enriched uranium Iran produces. Enriched uranium is a vital component for both civilian nuclear power generation and military nuclear weapons.

Iran insists that its nuclear program is for exclusively peaceful purposes.

Between 2010 and 2012, four Iranian nuclear scientists were killed and Iran has accused Israel of complicity in the killings.

Fakhrizadeh’s name was specifically mentioned in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s presentation on Iran’s nuclear program in May 2018.

In a statement on Friday, Iran’s Defense Ministry said: “Armed terrorists attacked a vehicle carrying Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, head of the ministry’s research and innovation organization.”

“After a confrontation between the terrorists and their bodyguards, Mr. Fakhrizadeh was seriously injured and rushed to hospital.

“Unfortunately, the medical team’s efforts to save him were unsuccessful and he passed away a few minutes ago.”

Iranian media reports said the attackers opened fire on the scientist in his car.

The Fars news agency previously reported that there was a car explosion in the town of Absard, and witnesses reported that “three to four people, said to be terrorists, were killed.”

“Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today,” Iran’s foreign minister said in a tweet.

“This cowardice, with serious indications of the Israeli role, shows a desperate warmongering of the perpetrators.”

Mr. Zarif asked the international community to “condemn this act of State terror.”

The commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said that Iran will take revenge for the murder of the scientist.

Fakhrizadeh is the most renowned Iranian nuclear scientist and a senior official in the elite of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Western security sources have long referred to him as extremely powerful and instrumental in Iran’s weapons program.

According to secret documents obtained by Israel in 2018, he ran the program that created Iran’s nuclear weapons.

“Remember that name,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, identifying Fakhrizedeh as the lead scientist for the program.

In 2015, the New York Times compared him to J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who led the Manhattan Project that produced the first atomic weapons during World War II.

There has been no comment from Israel on the news of the assassination.