Mohsen Fahrizade, a top architect behind Iran’s military nuclear program, referred to as the country’s Robert Oppenheimer, was assassinated in Tehran in broad daylight on Friday.
The Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Support confirmed in a statement Fahrizade died after being taken to a hospital following an attack on a car carrying the nuclear scientist, reports the Tehran-based Mehr News.
“This Friday afternoon, armed terrorist elements attacked a car carrying Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, head of the Research and Innovation Organization of the Ministry of Defense,” the statement, translated from Persian, read.
Fakhrizadeh was “seriously injured” in a clash between the attackers and his security team. He was taken to the hospital, where a medical team attempted to revive him. Fakhrizadeh’s bodyguards were also wounded.
The attack happened in Absard, a small city east of Tehran, according to the Associated Press, citing the state-run Fars news agency which is believed to be close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Witnesses heard the sound of an explosion and machine gun fire.
“The assassination of nuclear scientists is the most obvious violent confrontation of the imperialist system to prevent us from gaining access to modern science,” Hossein Salami, head of Iran’s Republican Guards, tweeted.
Iran’s nuclear agency denied there had been any incidents involving one of its scientists, according to Middle East Eye.
ترور دانشمندان هستهای آشکارترین تقابل خشن نظام سلطه برای جلوگیری از دستیابی ما به علوم مدرن است.
— حسین سلامی (@salamy_ir) November 27, 2020
The report comes amid rising tensions as Iran waits for President Trump’s exit from the White House.
Earlier this month, the New York Times reported the president had met with senior advisers to discuss options on possibly taking action against Iran’s main nuclear site.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also recently toured Middle Eastern countries viewed as Iranian adversaries. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was alongside Pompeo in Saudi Arabia to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Iranian media all took note of the interest Netanyahu had expressed in Fakhrizadeh. Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, has a lengthy history of both confirmed and alleged assassinations.
In a 2018 presentation, Netanyahu alluded to Fakhrizadeh when revealing Iran’s secret nuclear program.
“Remember their name,” Netanyahu said at the time.
Foreshadowing today‘s alleged assassination? Netanyahu mentions name of Iran nuclear scientist Fakhrizadeh during 2018 presentation of Mossad intell haul revealing Iran’s secret nuclear program. “Remember his name,” Netanyahu says.
Go to to 9:50 in video.https://t.co/2hI1vtqJL7— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) November 27, 2020
Fakhrizadeh had widely been referred to as “Iran’s Robert Oppenheimer,” the U.S. scientist dubbed the father of the atomic bomb, according to NBC News’ Tehran Bureau Chief Ali Arouzi, who added that he is the most important Iranian nuclear scientist to be assassinated to date.
Fakhrizadeh had led Iran’s “Amad” or “Hope” program, which has been labeled by Israel and the West as a military operation looking at the possibility of building a nuclear weapon in Iran.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said the program ended in the early 2000s.
