Nuclear scientist's assassination puts Tehran at crossroads
As Iran investigates the assassination of a top nuclear scientist, fingers are already pointing at Israel and the United States, whose outgoing administration clearly wants to minimize the chances of reviving the nuclear deal.
Few outside of Iran had ever heard of the city of Absard until senior Defense Ministry official and nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed on the main road that links it to the capital Tehran. The city’s name means cold water, and Nov. 27 certainly poured it on the Iranian establishment, bringing into question the efficiency of the security institutions and the abilities of the country’s enemies to impede Tehran’s strategic projects.
Fakhrizadeh, described by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the father of Iran’s military nuclear project, had just ended a lunch at his in-laws and was in his car in a convoy of three vehicles heading back to Tehran. According to Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatemi, a group of armed men rained bullets on his bodyguards’ car, forcing the convoy to stop. Then a truck on the side of the road rigged with explosives was detonated, and the armed men once again opened fire, killing most of Fakhrizadeh’s men as well as the scientist himself, in view of his wife who was in the third car.
While there’s no official narrative over how the attack happened and who was involved, speculation has flourished in Iran, and the Ministry of Intelligence said in a brief statement that its operatives are investigating.
The immediate assessment in Iran was “This was an Israeli assault with cover from the current US administration,” according to an Iranian official speaking to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. The official elaborated that the assassination is part of an offensive by Netanyahu and President Donald Trump’s administration “along with some minor elements allied with them in the region." He added, "And it’s out of despair; they know very well that this is not going to impede Iran’s advancement. It’s certain that this is not going to pass without a strong response that the whole world will long remember. But it’s Iran who decides when and how, and not the bloodthirsty enemy.”
