Suspected Iranian nuclear mastermind assassinated
An Iranian scientist long suspected by the West of masterminding a secret nuclear bomb program was killed in an ambush near Tehran Friday… an incident that could potentially provoke a confrontation between Iran and its foes during the final weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Iran blamed U.S. ally Israel for the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh – with the implication that the killing would have the blessing of Trump – and vowed to retaliate.
Fakhrizadeh died of injuries in the hospital after armed assassins fired on his car, Iranian state media reported. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
The Pentagon, State Department, CIA and the White House all declined to comment – although Trump retweeted reports of his death.
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's team also declined to comment.
Fakhrizadeh has been described by Western and Israeli intelligence services for years as the leader of a covert atomic bomb program halted in 2003, which Israel and the U.S. accuse Tehran of trying to restore in secret. Iran has long denied seeking to weaponize nuclear energy.
He was a central figure in a presentation by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2018 accusing Iran of continuing to seek nuclear weapons.
Israel declined to comment on the killing.
Last January, a U.S. drone strike in Iraq killed Qassem Soleimani, Iran's most powerful military commander. Iran retaliated for that attack by firing missiles at a U.S. base in Iraq, the closest the two foes have come to war in decades.
Trump, who leaves office on January 20th, pulled the U.S. out of a deal under which sanctions on Iran were lifted in return for curbs on its nuclear program. Biden has said he would restore the deal once in office.
