Head of Iran’s nuclear weapons program assassinated in Tehran

[Gabbar Singh]

The alleged head of Iran’s nuclear weapons program was assassinated Friday near the capital Tehran, according to Iranian state television and other Iranian media.

State TV cited sources confirming the death of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. It said it would offer more information shortly.

The semiofficial Fars news agency, believed to be close to the country’s Revolutionary Guard, said the attack happened in Absard, a small city just east of the capital, Tehran. It said witnesses heard the sound of an explosion and then machinegun fire. The attack targeted a car that Fakhrizadeh was in, the agency said.

Fars reported that efforts were ongoing to treat Fakhrizadeh and others who had been injured. Meanwhile Tehran’s nuclear energy agency asserted that there had been no incident involving a nuclear scientist.

But Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vowed in a statement to avenge the deaths of nuclear scientists, without commenting on the specific incident.

Fakhrizadeh, a professor of physics and an officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, was named by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2018 as the director of Iran’s nuclear weapons project.

When Netanyahu revealed then that Israel had removed from a warehouse in Tehran a vast archive of Iran’s own material detailing with its nuclear weapons program, he said: “Remember that name, Fakhrizadeh.”

In a video uploaded to Twitter Friday shortly after news of the alleged killing emerged, Netanyahu, counting off various achievements of the week, noted that this was “a partial list, as I can’t tell you everything.”

Fakhrizadeh led Iran’s so-called “Amad,” or “Hope” program. Israel and the West have alleged it was a military operation looking at the feasibility of building a nuclear weapon in Iran. Tehran long has maintained its nuclear program is peaceful.

The International Atomic Energy Agency says that “Amad” program ended in the early 2000s. Its inspectors now monitor Iranian nuclear sites.

But Netanyahu said in his 2018 comments that Fakhrizadeh was continuing to lead such efforts secretly under SPND, “an organization inside Iran’s Defense Ministry.”

Israel is alleged to have assassinated several top Iranian nuclear scientists over the years in a bid to curtail Iran’s nuclear program.

An Israeli TV report in May 2018 claimed Israel may have decided not to assassinate Fakhrizadeh in the past because it preferred to keep him alive and watch what he was up to.

“If Iran ever chose to weaponize [enrichment], Fakhrizadeh would be known as the father of the Iranian bomb,” a Western diplomat told the Reuters news agency four years ago. He has often been compared with Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the American nuclear development program in the 1940s.

A report on Axios Wednesday claimed that the Israeli army has been preparing for the possibility that US President Donald Trump will order a strike on Iran before leaving office in January.

Citing senior Israeli officials, Axios said there was no specific information that such an attack is imminent, but Israeli leaders believe the US president’s final weeks in the job will be “a very sensitive period.”

The officials said Washington would likely update Israel before carrying out military action against the Islamic Republic.

In January the US assassinated Qassem Soleimani, the powerful head of Iran’s Quds Force, in an airstrike at Baghdad International Airport, nearly sparking a larger conflict between the countries.

Intelligence expert Ronen Bergman told Israel’s Channel 10 news in 2019 that given that many of Fakhrizadeh’s close aides had been killed over the years in assassinations linked to the Mossad, it was “reasonable to assume” that he would also have been “picked out” for assassination by the Mossad over the years.

Since Fakhhrizadeh is still alive, said Bergman at the time, “one can say apparently there was an assassination plan.” And apparently it was rejected during the years when Ehud Olmert was prime minister, Bergman added, choosing his words carefully given the limitations of military censorship when it comes to matters of national security.

“Apparently, there were those who came to Olmert… and said, listen, there is a danger that the operation will fail; there is a danger that the forces on the ground will be discovered.”

Olmert evidently chose to heed those concerns and not approve such an operation, said Bergman, a well-connected journalist on Israeli intelligence and security who recently published a landmark book, “Rise and Kill First,” on “the secret history of Israel’s targeted assassinations.”

Olmert was prime minister until 2009, when Netanyahu succeeded him.

Israel has never acknowledged assassinating people involved in the Iranian nuclear program.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/head-of-irans-nuclear-weapons-program-said-assassinated-near-tehran/

 

[Gabbar Singh]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING: Iranian media reporting that high level nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh has been assassinated. Widely referred to as Iran’s Robert Oppenheimer. He is by far the most important Iranian nuclear scientist to be assassinated to date. Netanyahu had mentioned him by name</p>— Ali Arouzi (@aliarouzi) <a href="https://twitter.com/aliarouzi/status/1332322276692414465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a IRGC media: Fakhrizadeh car has been stopped by explosive and then he was killed by shooting; Several others are also reportedly killed in the incident <a href="https://t.co/NlbgZolb5d">https://t.co/NlbgZolb5d</a></p>— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmichaiStein1/status/1332326365530648579?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[JaDed]

Anyone know about Homi Bhabha?

 

[CricketCartoons]

Anyone know about Homi Bhabha?

That's just conspiracy theory.

 

[Pakpak]

Imagine if Iranians were doing this on Israeli soil

 

[Madplayer]

Lets see the reaction that comes from Iran.

 

[GenericBrand]

Could be related to the recent visit PM visit from Israel to Saudi.

Iran must have some of the worst intelligence internal and external, their guys keep getting assassinated.

 

[Syed1]

I feel for Iran. They get slapped around by US/Israel and now Saudi is openly conspiring against them as well. They have limited support in the Muslim world and even Pakistan regularly shoots down their drones that wander into Baluchistan lol (why are they coming there in the first place).

 

[Syed1]

Could be related to the recent visit PM visit from Israel to Saudi.

Iran must have some of the worst intelligence internal and external, their guys keep getting assassinated.

They redefine incompetence every time. They shot down a passenger plane that took off from their capital Tehran thinking it's a foreign jet.

 

[MenInG]

An Iranian nuclear scientist described as the guru of Iran’s nuclear programme has been gunned down in the street in a town near Tehran.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was ambushed in the town of Absard, 70km east of Tehran. Four assailants opened fire after witnesses heard an explosion. Efforts to resuscitate Fakhrizadeh failed, and his bodyguard was also wounded.

An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed that the country would retaliate against the perpetrators. “We will strike as thunder at the killers of this oppressed martyr and will make them regret their action,” tweeted Hossein Dehghan, a military commander.

The Iranian ministry of defence confirmed Fakhrizadeh’s death in a statement. “During the clash between his security team and the terrorists, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was seriously injured and taken to hospital,” it said. “Unfortunately, the medical team did not succeed in reviving him, and a few minutes ago, this manager and scientist, after years of effort and struggle, achieved a high degree of martyrdom.”

Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif immediately identified Israel as the likely culprit. “Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today,” he tweeted. “This cowardice – with serious indications of Israeli role – shows desperate warmongering of perpetrators. Iran calls on international community – and especially EU – to end their shameful double standards & condemn this act of state terror.”

Fakhrizadeh was identified by Israel’s prime minister in a 2018 public presentation as the director of Iran’s nuclear weapons project. “Remember that name, Fakhrizadeh,” Benjamin Netanyahu said during the presentation.

He accused Iran at the time of hiding and expanding its nuclear weapons knowhow, saying that Israeli intelligence had obtained a half-tonne cache of nuclear archive materials from the country.

The attack was confirmed by Iranian state TV but then denied by Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) before being confirmed separately by the defence ministry. Pictures of the purported site of the attack also appeared on the Iranian news sites. Security forces blocked the boulevard where the attack occurred.

A spokesperson for the Israeli military said: “We don’t comment on reports in the foreign media”. The prime minister’s office said it would not comment “on those reports”.

The confusion in the Iranian media reflected the high tensions inside Iran, amid reports that Israeli intelligence and secret service have been given the green light to mount attacks on Iranian nuclear installations before Donald Trump stands down as president.

Many Iranian officials believe Trump, in conjunction with Israel and Saudi Arabia, is determined to weaken or antagonise Iran before the US handover of power on 20 January.

Hossein Dehghan, Khamenei’s top military adviser, said in reference to Trump: “In the last days of the political life of their gambling ally, the Zionists seek to intensify and increase the pressure on Iran to wage a full-fledged war. The night is long. We will descend like lightning on the killers of this oppressed martyr.”

The US president-elect, Joe Biden, has said he is willing to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal and lift some economic sanctions so long as Iran comes back into compliance with the agreement, especially over its excess stocks of enriched uranium. Israel and Saudi Arabia want the US to remain outside the deal and continue with a policy of maximum economic sanctions.

Fakhrizadeh, on a US sanctions list, was regarded as the main keeper of Iranian knowledge of its nuclear programme. A brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and a professor of physics at the Guard’s Imam Hussein University, he was cloaked in mystery.

Until April 2018, no photograph of him was publicly available, and after the killing of several other nuclear scientists, a further shield of secrecy and security had been thrown around him, in an effort to protect him against Israeli assassins.

He took charge of Iran’s Physics Research Centre in 1988, and then became head of research at its successor, the Institute of Applied Physics, from where Iran’s secret nuclear research programme was conducted.

He had never been interviewed by a member of the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA, but was named in one of their reports.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-shot-dead-near-tehran?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

[GenericBrand]

They redefine incompetence every time. They shot down a passenger plane that took off from their capital Tehran thinking it's a foreign jet.

This is the 6th time a Nuclear Scientist of theirs has been assassinated (out of a total 8 attempts), you'd think they would have had **** together by now when it comes to protecting these guys. And yet we have people here who think this country can take on US/Israel

 

[Madplayer]

This is the 6th time a Nuclear Scientist of theirs has been assassinated (out of a total 8 attempts), you'd think they would have had **** together by now when it comes to protecting these guys. And yet we have people here who think this country can take on US/Israel

It gets kinda easier to attack a country when many countries come together to conspire against it. Iran is in desperate need of allies but tbh they have survived in face of sanctions and deserve credit for it.

 

[CricketCartoons]

It gets kinda easier to attack a country when many countries come together to conspire against it. Iran is in desperate need of allies but tbh they have survived in face of sanctions and deserve credit for it.

They stand up to the US and israel the most, instead of the thekaydaars, but people are laughing at iran at their loss.

 

[kingusama92]

Iran seems to have way too many enemies including some of the world's strongest military/intelligence powers.

It's not sustainable or even logical.

 

[Varun]

It gets kinda easier to attack a country when many countries come together to conspire against it. Iran is in desperate need of allies but tbh they have survived in face of sanctions and deserve credit for it.

Why does everybody hate Iran? What wrong have they ever done?

 

[Gabbar Singh]

This is the 6th time a Nuclear Scientist of theirs has been assassinated (out of a total 8 attempts), you'd think they would have had **** together by now when it comes to protecting these guys. And yet we have people here who think this country can take on US/Israel

And when they do try and fight back they end up punching themselves in the face like they did when they killed so many innocent civilians in that Boeing airliner.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">•Planted explosives in a range of sensitive nuclear and commercial sites around Iran<br>•Planted some of the world’s most advanced malware in the heart of their nuclear program <br><br>And now it looks like they’ve lost (another) top nuclear scientist to an assassination</p>— Adam Rawnsley (@arawnsley) <a href="https://twitter.com/arawnsley/status/1332348131208474625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">*forgot to add: Iranians also also lost a top al-Qaeda official they were protecting when he was gunned down in front of his house in broad daylight in Tehran</p>— Adam Rawnsley (@arawnsley) <a href="https://twitter.com/arawnsley/status/1332349363226615811?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Bewal Express]

How crap are the Iranian security services. The Israelis are operating freely and killing their main people on their land and they have no answers.

 

[Syed1]

Also goes to show how much more professional Pak security agencies are.... I'm sure the West + Israel may have tried to do the same when Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, Dr. Samar Mubarakmand and others were developing our nuke.

 

[Madplayer]

Why does everybody hate Iran? What wrong have they ever done?

not everybody but the west and the gulf states mostly. There are many factors. I think the overthrowing of US puppets in the Islamic revolution is one factor. This is a thorn in US skin. Irani oil being a threat to petro-dollar set up is another. It is a direct threat to KSA's attempts to become a regional hegemon. Not to mention Irani govts almost always disagree with western claims. They are openly anti-Israel, their presidents have asked for investigations into the genuineness of the jewish Holocaust, They openly called 911 an inside job and after taking such anti-west political positions they also developed a nuclear programme which the west cannot directly influence especially after JCPOA was scrapped by Trump (which actually showed that US and Israel werent interested in peace with Iran).

 

[Madplayer]

Also goes to show how much more professional Pak security agencies are.... I'm sure the West + Israel may have tried to do the same when Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, Dr. Samar Mubarakmand and others were developing our nuke.

Pakistan was a US ally at that time. But Israel must have had serious issues with it and US always listens to Israel first

 

[Syed1]

Iranian official Twitter accounts saying the Mossad agents who killed the nuclear scientist have been killed.


There is an apt Urdu saying for this situation:

'Jo muqqa larayi kay baad yad aye wo apnay mo pe mar lehna chahye'

 

[Syed1]

Pakistan was a US ally at that time. But Israel must have had serious issues with it and US always listens to Israel first

US is never anyone's ally.... They would have killed off our scientists in a jiffy if they could.

 

[Madplayer]

Iranian official Twitter accounts saying the Mossad agents who killed the nuclear scientist have been killed.


There is an apt Urdu saying for this situation:

'Jo muqqa larayi kay baad yad aye wo apnay mo pe mar lehna chahye'

) It reminds me of one internet joke "i always have the best insults. But they come to my mind after the argument is over"

 

[Madplayer]

US is never anyone's ally.... They would have killed off our scientists in a jiffy if they could.

Didnt Israeli planes attempt a strike on a Pakistan Nuclear facility? Or is that a myth?

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Also goes to show how much more professional Pak security agencies are.... I'm sure the West + Israel may have tried to do the same when Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, Dr. Samar Mubarakmand and others were developing our nuke.

Yes. And Israelis were behind AQ Khan's decision to sell nuclear secrets to North Korea and Libya aswell.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Incase anyone was wondering what Pompeo was doing in Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Israel on the other hand is such a cowardly nation. They most likely planned this whole thing from scratch. And now they will duck under American petticoat. About time Iran developed a nuclear deterrent and put this puny country in its corner.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Didnt Israeli planes attempt a strike on a Pakistan Nuclear facility? Or is that a myth?

Has been alleged in a book but I don't think Israel ever had the gall to do something like that. Especially since this was said to be planned in the early 1980s. Israel could not have pulled off something like this without the Americans finding out.

 

[JaDed]

Incase anyone was wondering what Pompeo was doing in Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Israel on the other hand is such a cowardly nation. They most likely planned this whole thing from scratch. And now they will duck under American petticoat. About time Iran developed a nuclear deterrent and put this puny country in its corner.

Well Israel has won wars against Arab nations as well but they realize that to win long term wars they got to be technically competitive and keep all these nations in check.

Thats not cowardice but cunning, also Israel gets support not only from America but Europe as well.

 

[Syed1]

Didnt Israeli planes attempt a strike on a Pakistan Nuclear facility? Or is that a myth?

Could be a myth but as Redwood mentioned some books have mentioned it. The story goes, at the time when Pak was testing nukes the entire security apparatus was on high alert and an F-16 was seen operating in Indian airspace close to the border with Pakistan but India does not have any F-16s so it is alleged that it was Israel's.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Well Israel has won wars against Arab nations as well but they realize that to win long term wars they got to be technically competitive and keep all these nations in check.

Thats not cowardice but cunning, also Israel gets support not only from America but Europe as well.

Arab nations have among the worst militaries in the world. It's not even about the weapons, which they have plenty of. It that their soldiers are not even soldiers to begin with. You could make up a joint army of all the Arab nations and they would still lose a war to Israel in a week.

Yes, Israel has a strong and effective military that thrives especially on a tactical level. But a) the size of their army is very small. And b) without Americans arming them to the teeth, they would be nowhere. And it has to be noted that America has not provided this kind of unchecked military aid to any country in the world, nor for such a long time.

What they did today and have done in the past is an act of cowardice. They do not have the gall to confront Iran directly despite being a nuclear power, and having every high-tech weapon you could find on this planet; so they use the Americans to shield themselves and fight their battles for them.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Incase anyone was wondering what Pompeo was doing in Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Israel on the other hand is such a cowardly nation. They most likely planned this whole thing from scratch. And now they will duck under American petticoat. About time Iran developed a nuclear deterrent and put this puny country in its corner.

Iran certainly is no less of a coward. From their sponsorship of proxies throughout the region to cultivating ideological fifth columns in every country with a Shia minority. But the manner in which the West has gone after Iran at the behest of Israel is what makes one understand the Iranian condition. They have enemies intent to destroying their country and reducing them to dust. In such a condition they have no choice but to try and achieve nuclear deterrence.

 

[Markhor]

This is an act of terrorism, probably a parting shot from the anti-Iranian zealots in the Trump Administration.

 

[Pakpak]

Could be a myth but as Redwood mentioned some books have mentioned it. The story goes, at the time when Pak was testing nukes the entire security apparatus was on high alert and an F-16 was seen operating in Indian airspace close to the border with Pakistan but India does not have any F-16s so it is alleged that it was Israel's.

Also to add Pakistan informed the Americans that they will respond with whatever missiles, or whatever power we can muster on all of Israel's nuclear sites. I mean this is what the whole story was from a few sources I remember years back.

 

[Pakpak]

This is an act of terrorism, probably a parting shot from the anti-Iranian zealots in the Trump Administration.

Yes, it is. Imagine if the Iranians were killing American or Israeli scientists on Israeli or foreign soil.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

This is an act of terrorism, probably a parting shot from the anti-Iranian zealots in the Trump Administration.

Indeed, by all means it is an act of terrorism.

Just imagine a foreign power assassinating lead Yanki or Zionist bomb makers

Hassan-i Sabbah would have been ashamed of modern Iran's secret services

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Didnt Israeli planes attempt a strike on a Pakistan Nuclear facility? Or is that a myth?

Israel did aid India, and even sent a pilot with Abhinandan to tea party in Pakistan

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

They stand up to the US and israel the most, instead of the thekaydaars, but people are laughing at iran at their loss.

This whole "thekaydaars" meme is generated and promoted by trolls who live in a fantasy world and are unable to cope with reality and facts. Like Mamoon and saeedhk guy (or whatever his name is).

The reality, however, is that people do whatever is best for them. Be it on personal, local or international level.

Many Hindus fought for Mughals against Hindu Armies and many local Sultans supported Hindu Rajas against Muslim invaders.

During Al Andalus reconquista Christian Armies fought alongside Muslims more than a dozen time. Sometimes the very armies who were fighting last season were shoulder to shoulder in the next battle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDVit5EB6Ag

Even Crusaders sometimes allied with Muslims. Heck, the very Christian Constantinople was originally sacked, looted and razed by Christian crusaders themselves They murdered kids and raped women on a massive scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Constantinople

USA financed Taliban/Al Qaeda and in 20 years we will have leaked documents money trails confirming they were behind Isis.


Such is the world and the creatures who live in it...

 

[Nadeemp]

Iran must have one of the worst intelligence services in the world. This is like 5-6 guy getting killed and nobody being arrested for it.

 

[IMMY69]

Almost all the Jewish Iranians migrated to Israel after the revolution.

I wonder how many of Israel's army are of Iranian heritage...
They would speak Farsi and look Iranian and I'm sure have a local support network in Iran.

 

[MenInG]

Iran has vowed to avenge the killing of its most senior nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was assassinated near Tehran on Friday.

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

Hossein Dehghan, military advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to "strike" the perpetrators like thunder.

Western intelligence agencies believe Fakhrizadeh was behind a covert Iranian nuclear weapons programme.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

The country's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, called on the international community to "condemn this act of state terror".

"Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today," he said in a tweet.

Iran's UN ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi said the killing was a clear violation of international law, designed to wreak havoc in the region.

Mr Zarif blamed Israel for the attack saying it had "serious indications of Israeli role".

Fakhrizadeh's name was specifically mentioned in Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's presentation about Iran's nuclear programme in April 2018.

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

Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Maj Gen Hossein Salami, said the "assassination of nuclear scientists is the most obvious violation of the global hegemony to prevent our access to modern sciences".

News of the killing comes amid fresh concern about the increased amount of enriched uranium that the country is producing. Enriched uranium is a vital component for both civil nuclear power generation and military nuclear weapons.

A 2015 deal with six world powers had placed limits on its production, but since President Donald Trump abandoned the deal in 2018, Iran has been deliberately reneging on its agreements.

Joe Biden has pledged to reengage with Iran when he becomes US president in January, despite longstanding opposition from Israel.

Former head of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Brennan, said the killing of the scientist was a "criminal" and "highly reckless" act that risks inflaming conflict in the region.

In a series of tweets, he said Fakhrizadeh's death "risks lethal retaliation and a new round of regional conflict".

Mr Brennan added that he did not know "whether a foreign government authorised or carried out the murder of Fakhrizadeh".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-55111064

 

[Madplayer]

Has been alleged in a book but I don't think Israel ever had the gall to do something like that. Especially since this was said to be planned in the early 1980s. Israel could not have pulled off something like this without the Americans finding out.

Could be a myth but as Redwood mentioned some books have mentioned it. The story goes, at the time when Pak was testing nukes the entire security apparatus was on high alert and an F-16 was seen operating in Indian airspace close to the border with Pakistan but India does not have any F-16s so it is alleged that it was Israel's.

Israel did aid India, and even sent a pilot with Abhinandan to tea party in Pakistan

Interesting. I'll look into it in further detail. Thanks.

 

[Madplayer]

Yes, it is. Imagine if the Iranians were killing American or Israeli scientists on Israeli or foreign soil.

This is not new. Many prominent Arab leaders were assaainated like this in last many decades. Palestinian scientists and top leaders were killed similarly.

"What is stopping the muslims from developing their own tech and progressing on their own terms" is a questions many people ask. Well well.

 

[Greenstorm]

Interesting. I'll look into it in further detail. Thanks.

Read 'Deception' by Adrian Levy. Despite the obvious anti Pakistan bias, in initial sections, it gives an extensive account of how Pakistan managed to attain nuclear capability making for an interesting read.

It also gives an idea as to why Iran is finding it so difficult to develop nuclear weapons.

 

[Greenstorm]

Also goes to show how much more professional Pak security agencies are.... I'm sure the West + Israel may have tried to do the same when Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, Dr. Samar Mubarakmand and others were developing our nuke.

I remember reading somewhere that security protocols for the protection of AQ Khan were even stricter than president Zia ul Haq.

 

[Firebat]

Iran blames Israel for killing nuclear scientist

Iran's president has blamed Israel for the killing of a top nuclear scientist on Friday, and said it would not slow down the country's nuclear programme.

Hassan Rouhani also said Iran would retaliate over Mohsen Fakhrizadeh's killing at a time of its choosing.

Fakhrizadeh was killed in an ambush on his car by gunmen in the town of Absard, east of the capital Tehran.

Israel has not commented, but it has previously accused him of being behind a covert nuclear weapons programme.

Fakhrizadeh was Iran's most renowned nuclear scientist, who headed the ministry of defence's research and innovation organisation.

His killing threatens to escalate tensions over Iran's nuclear programme with the US and its close ally Israel.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-55111064

 

[Greenstorm]

Iranians lack professionalism and finesse at the top to attain nuclear capability. They are highly motivated and operate with religious zeal but lack well structured institutions to successfully act upon their lofty ambitions. Even their military cannot be regarded as professional modern military (Pakistan and Turkey could have helped them in this regard if Iranians maintained friendly relations).

Their strength lies in arming and training of militias/proxies which are kept engaged in neighbouring countries to secure their own interests. In this way, Iran has managed to keep its borders secure and maintain peace inside their country. Their missile program is the only deterrence against countries like Israel and US.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

At least now we know what MBS, Pence and Netanyahu were talking about last week.

 

[CricketCartoons]

At least now we know what MBS, Pence and Netanyahu were talking about last week.

You must be a fly on the wall to know that head of states were discussing assassination.

 

[Romali_rotti]

Anyone know about Homi Bhabha?

India would have been the first country in Asia (even before China) to have full nuclear capability had he not been assassinated by the CIA..

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Obama’s CIA head is pretending that he’s against such assassinations. He was happy enough to blow up poor kids in places like Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan though.

|https://thumbsnap.com/1gH4mwMX[/url]

 

[MenInG]

Iran's president has blamed Israel for the killing of a top nuclear scientist on Friday, and said it would not slow down the country's nuclear programme.

Hassan Rouhani also said Iran would retaliate over Mohsen Fakhrizadeh's killing at a time of its choosing.

Fakhrizadeh was killed in an ambush on his car by gunmen in the town of Absard, east of the capital Tehran.

Israel has not commented, but it has previously accused him of being behind a covert nuclear weapons programme.

Fakhrizadeh was Iran's most renowned nuclear scientist, who headed the ministry of defence's research and innovation organisation.

His killing threatens to escalate tensions over Iran's nuclear programme with the US and its close ally Israel.

 

[Robert]

How crap are the Iranian security services. The Israelis are operating freely and killing their main people on their land and they have no answers.

Doesn’t seem like their MO to me, I would have thought they would be more professional.

 

[MenInG]

Serious escalation this for everyone in the region and has repercussions beyond the region.

All eyes on Iran for their response.

 

[MenInG]

Iran's nuclear ambitions have been at the core of fears over a heightened risk of conflict in the Middle East for more than a decade.

Iran had a peaceful nuclear programme for many years, but in the early 2000s concerns were raised that it was developing technology that could create nuclear weapons - despite the country being a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Not long after the firebrand then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a series of bold claims about uranium enrichment, the first of a number of UN resolutions was passed, aimed at forcing Iran to backpedal.

Diplomacy between Iran and the West went into the freezer for several years after the two sides became locked in a stand-off over Tehran's claim that any programme it had was for purely peaceful purposes.

At the same time, Mr Ahmadinejad made a series of comments threatening Israel and proudly asserting the success Iran was having in developing space and ballistic missile technology.

It wasn't until the 2015 nuclear deal, which happened after Mr Ahmadinejad was replaced as president by the incumbent Hassan Rouhani, that relations began to improve - albeit temporarily.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed by Iran, the US, the UK, Russia, China, Germany and the EU, paved the way for a relaxation of sanctions imposed on Iran in return for the Iranian government ensuring its nuclear programme would be "exclusively peaceful".

For a period of time diplomatic relations improved, with Iran providing evidence it was according with the deal's terms and its co-signatories allowing trade to increase.

But in 2018, US president Donald Trump announced he was abandoning the agreement because it did not address some key American concerns.

He said it did not restrict Iran's ballistic missile programme nor its support for militia in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, which Washington sees as destabilising to the Middle East.

Since becoming president in 2017, Mr Trump has shown a greater willingness than his predecessors to ally himself with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his robust approach - and also to seek stronger alliances with Arab nations that were hostile to Iran, such as Saudi Arabia.

Mr Netanyahu, who has repeatedly warned about what he sees as an Iranian threat, presented in 2019 what he said was evidence of a previously undisclosed Iranian nuclear weapons facility and said he was telling "the tyrants of Tehran… Israel knows what you are doing".

It has long been rumoured that Israeli agents operate in Iran, despite Israelis being banned from the country.

In 2012, after four other Iranian nuclear scientists were assassinated, a man accused of killing a Tehran physics professor admitted at his trial - before he was hanged - that he travelled to Tel Aviv and was trained by Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service.

In 2020, The New York Times reported that a US intelligence source had told it that Israeli agents assassinated Al Qaeda's second-in-command inside Iran.

In recent months, there has been growing cooperation between Israel and several countries it previously regarded as enemies - after a thaw in relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and even, potentially, Saudi Arabia, was brokered by the US under the Trump administration.

With the election to the US presidency of Joe Biden, who has asserted his support for the 2015 JCPOA, Israel's government has expressed concern about showing warmth towards Iran. Last week, Mr Netanyahu said there should be no return to the deal.

Iran has blamed Israel for the assassination of one of Iran's most prominent nuclear scientists, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, but there has been no comment so far from Mr Netanyahu.

https://news.sky.com/story/iran-nuc...f-the-crisis-that-led-to-the-killing-12144806

 

[The Viper]

Iran may retaliate in Iraq for killing of scientist: Analysts

Erbil, Kurdish region of northern Iraq – The assassination of high-ranking Iranian nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh near Tehran on Friday has sent a familiar tremor through the region.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. But from Beirut to Baghdad, Iran and its proxies have pointed the finger at Israel and the United States – prompting some regional watchers to foresee another escalation in violence in Iraq.

In a statement, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesman urged for “restraint and the need to avoid any actions that could lead to an escalation of tensions in the region”.

But Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei called for the killers to be brought to justice, and a sense of discomfort has settled over some Iraqis.

The killing of one of Iran’s towering figures felt reminiscent of the assassination of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in January.

The killing of Soleimani by a US air strike paved the path towards an uptick in violence between American troops and Iran-backed armed groups, like Kataib Hezbollah.

The group released a statement following the killing of Fakhrizadeh calling for revenge against the “Zionist-American-Saudi axis’ criminal record. The cost of their crimes must be high.”

Senior Iraq Analyst at the International Crisis Group Lahib Higel told Al Jazeera that: “It is possible that we will see retaliation in Iraq by Iran-linked groups.”

However, she said this month’s US presidential election – in which incumbent Donald Trump was beaten by Joe Biden – has complicated the situation.

“On the one hand Iran and its affiliates in Iraq want to lay low until the [President] Trump team leaves office in January, but on the other hand it is unlikely that the Iranians won’t answer before that time,” she said.

She said an Iranian response in Iraq would likely “take on similar forms as what we have seen previously, rocket attacks on the green zone or Ain al-Asad airbase, targeting logistics convoys”.

“But there are other theatres in the region where this could happen as well.”

Henry Rome, a senior analyst at geopolitical risk firm Eurasia Group, said that Iran will likely be restrained in its initial response to the killing of Fakhrizadeh.

“While Iranian officials debate the wisdom of immediate diplomacy with the incoming Biden administration, there is probably little interest in taking steps that would foreclose this path, like an attack on US forces or personnel,” he said in a statement released by Eurasia Group.

But a restrained initial response by Iran does not rule out a larger eventual retaliation.

“They may well be planning something that is a slow burner,” Michael Stephens, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told Al Jazeera.

But even if they do, “it’s very difficult to do that outside of what they’ve already been doing,” said Stephens, referring to rocket attacks by armed groups on US targets.

Tamer Badawi, an associate with the Middle East Directions Programme at the European University Institute, told Al Jazeera that any Iranian-linked response in Iraq could be limited by the agreement in October by Iran-backed armed groups to temporarily halt attacks on American facilities, on condition that the US troops withdrew from Iraq.

“It is a challenge for Iran in Iraq to retaliate with a very clear message, while at the same time maintaining a fragile truce declared by paramilitaries in October not to target the US embassy and troops,” he said.

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/...-scientist-analysts?__twitter_impression=true

 

[rhony]

Iran is a loser. The Chinese are bailing them out on oil purchases but that's the extent the Chinese will go. Russia isn't the same power as it used to be. They are loners. USA and Israel will never let Iran have a nuclear weapons. Period. The world will not tolerate annihilation of Israel.

Iranians should give up on their nuclear ambitions if they are to be treated as a respectable nation and not a rogue state like North Korea. Decades of development was ruined because of the stubbornness of Iranian religious nuts. Time to accept the reality and behave.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

This is an act of terrorism, probably a parting shot from the anti-Iranian zealots in the Trump Administration.

Worse than that it also makes it more unlikely that Iran and the Biden administration will start negotiations when the latter becomes President. Also, it makes it more likely that a hardliner will win next years Iranian Presidential election - Rouhani’s opponents will say “he took us into a deal with the great Satan and look what happened”.

It was an immoral and no doubt illegal action by the Israelis and Americans nevertheless it was a stroke of genius from their point of view as they’ve killed several birds with one stone.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Serious escalation this for everyone in the region and has repercussions beyond the region.

All eyes on Iran for their response.

They'll hit back at Saudis from what I heard from an Iranian associate. Proxy wars will continue in this war to protect Israel.

 

[KingKhanWC]

They'll hit back at Saudis from what I heard from an Iranian associate. Proxy wars will continue in this war to protect Israel.

Israel knows this and wants this. Iran will deploy dozens of drones or send missiles from Yemen to hit Saudi oil fields. They sent drones earlier this year if I can recall.

Iran has already the required enrichment to produce the nuke, it wont be long now.

Every nation should aquire nuclear weapons, it keeps them safe.

 

[Hasan]

When you are inspired by the message of Imam Hussain, it the not the size of the enemy but the faith in the truth that sustains you.

https://youtu.be/emfT8syx7R0

 

[Firebat]

Iran to give a 'calculated' response to nuclear scientist killing, says official

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran will give a “calculated and decisive” response to the killing of its top nuclear scientist, said a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, while a hardline newspaper suggested Tehran’s revenge should include striking the Israeli city of Haifa.

“Undoubtedly, Iran will give a calculated and decisive answer to the criminals who took Martyr Mohsen Fakhrizadeh from the Iranian nation,” Kamal Kharrazi, who is also head of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, said in a statement.

Fakhrizadeh, long suspected by Western and Israeli government of masterminding a secret nuclear weapons program, was ambushed on a highway near Tehran on Friday and gunned down in his car.

Iran’s clerical and military rulers have blamed the Islamic Republic’s longtime enemy, Israel, for the killing. Iran has in the past accused Israel of killing several Iranian nuclear scientists since 2010.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has declined to comment on the killing. An Israeli cabinet minister, Tzachi Hanegbi, said on Saturday he did not know who carried it out.

Iranian hardline media called on Sunday for a tough revenge.

The hardline Kayhan daily, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called for an attack on the Israeli port city of Haifa, if an Israeli role in Fakhrizadeh’s killing is proven.

“The attack should be carried out in such a way that in addition to destroying the facilities, it should also cause heavy human casualties,” wrote Saadollah Zarei in an opinion piece.

However, Iran’s rulers are aware of daunting military and political difficulties of attacking Israel. Such an attack would also complicate any effort by U.S. President-elect Joe Biden to revive detente with Tehran after he takes office on Jan. 20.

Tensions have been high between Tehran and Washington since 2018, when President Donald Trump exited Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six major powers and reimposed sanctions that have hit Iran’s economy hard. In retaliation, Tehran has gradually breached the deal’s curbs on its nuclear programme.

Biden has said he will return the United States to the deal if Iran resumes compliance. Iran has always denied pursuing nuclear weapons.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...scientist-killing-says-official-idUSKBN2890HY

 

[MenInG]

Tehran, Iran – Following the assassination of a top nuclear scientist near Tehran, Iran’s conservative parliament has called for a halt to international inspections of the country’s nuclear facilities as a proportionate response to the killing.

In a statement signed by all members of parliament, the legislative body said on Sunday “the hand of the murderous Zionist regime” can be clearly seen in the assassination of top scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was killed after an explosion and ensuing gunfire on Friday.

According to the lawmakers’ statement, what has emboldened Israel to take this step is a “damaging way of thinking among some government members” who believe negotiating with the West would transform Iran into a “normal” state in its eyes, and Iran must therefore refrain from antagonising it.

“But the experiences of terror and sabotage of the US, Israel and their other allies in the country in recent years, which have unfortunately gone largely without proportionate response, have shown how wrong and dangerous this way of thinking is,” the statement said.

The statement, read out at a public session, added that this way of thinking has emboldened rivals, plunging the country into tensions unprecedented since the eight-year Iran-Iraq War that ended in 1988.

Members of parliament called for an “immediate and punitive response” to foreign acts of aggression, the best of which would be to “revive the brilliant nuclear industry of our country”.

That goal, they said, could be achieved through ending the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol, and halting inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

As per a landmark 2015 nuclear deal, Iran agreed to significantly curb its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of multilateral sanctions and provided access to IAEA inspectors that continues to date.

The Additional Protocol is not a stand-alone agreement but includes voluntary measures that boost the IAEA’s ability to verify the peaceful use of all nuclear materials in a country.

Iran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful.

Legal obligation
Exactly one year after the US withdrew from the nuclear deal and embarked on its increasingly intensive “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions in May 2018, the administration of President Hassan Rouhani started gradually scaling back Iran’s nuclear commitments, saying the steps were reversible.

But ever since US President Donald Trump’s unilateral withdrawal, conservatives and hardliners have pushed to return Iran’s nuclear programme to the level it was at before the nuclear deal.

They were strengthened when they swept an overwhelming majority of parliament seats after elections in February that saw the lowest voter turnout in the four-decade history of the Islamic Republic.

Sunday’s statement creates no legal obligation for the government and Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, but members of parliament are finalising a bill to create that obligation.

Called the Strategic Act to Revoke Sanctions, the bill creates the grounds for implementation of all the demands in the lawmakers’ statement.

The bill, which contains nine articles, also obligates the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran to annually produce at least 120 kilogrammes (about 265 pounds) of 20-percent enriched uranium, revitalise the Fordow plant, and increase the number of advanced centrifuges, among other things.

The bill states it aims to bring the nations that signed the agreement, minus the US, back into full compliance with the nuclear deal and ensure Iran reaps the economic benefits promised under the accord. If these conditions are met, the bill envisions also bringing Iran back into full compliance.

The parliament on Sunday agreed to accelerate the bill, which is expected to undergo further reviews later this week. It must be approved the Guardian Council – a powerful 12-member vetting body that reviews all legislation approved by parliament

Play Video
‘No signal of weakness or trust’
In a speech in parliament on Sunday, speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the Iranian people have experienced many losses like Fakhrizadeh’s assassination, but have persevered.

“This time too, they will prove to enemies that the martyrdom of Dr Mohsen Fakhrizadeh will open a new window for the country’s progress and make these shameful terrorists and their supporters regretful,” he said.

The politician, who ran against Rouhani in the 2017 presidential elections and is thought to be a potential candidate in next year’s race, said the only way to deter future attacks is to show a “strong reaction”.

All forces and organisations in Iran must refrain from sending “any signals indicating weakness or trust to the US political system”, he said.

Iranian authorities have vowed “harsh revenge” following Fakhrizadeh’s assassination, the same promise made after Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani was killed by a Trump-ordered drone strike in Iraq in early January.

The escalation comes weeks before Trump has to leave the White House after losing the presidential elections to rival Joe Biden, who has promised to reverse his hardline campaign on Iran.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...s-for-end-of-nuclear-inspections-after-murder

 

[Madplayer]

Iran to give a 'calculated' response to nuclear scientist killing, says official

I hope they calculate it better this time and not blow up their own airplane. They need to send a strong message. Maybe assasinate Netanyahu himself if they can.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Reading today that Israel calculated that Iran won't hit back because they won't want to jeopardise relations with the incoming US govt who they hope will lift sanctions. I suppose that makes the timing of the terror attack by Israel quite smart in the short term.

Longer term though they are building bad credit. Assassination of civilians is a low step for a country which so many admire for some reason. Israel should have been reined in a long time ago. It will come back to bite them down the line.

 

[Firebat]

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh: Iran buries assassinated nuclear scientist

Iran has held a funeral for its top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was assassinated on Friday in an attack that it has blamed on Israel.

In a televised speech at the ceremony, Defence Minister General Amir Hatami vowed to avenge Fakhrizadeh's death and continue his path "vigorously".

A security chief meanwhile said those behind the attack on the scientist had used electronic equipment and not been at the scene, as Iran initially said.

Israel has not commented on the claims.

Fakhrizadeh played a crucial role in Iran's nuclear programme in the early 2000s and more recently had been accused by Israel of continuing to help develop a nuclear weapon.

Iran insists that its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful.

The funeral ceremony for Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was held at the defence ministry in Tehran, before his remains were transferred to a cemetery in the north of the capital.

Iranian state television showed the flag-draped coffin being carried by troops, and senior officials - including Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi, Revolutionary Guards commander Gen Hossein Salami and nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi - paying their respects.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-55128970

 

[MenInG]

Iran believes that Israel and an exiled opposition group used a remotely-controlled weapon to kill top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh on Friday.

In a speech at Fakhrizadeh's funeral in Tehran, security chief Ali Shamkhani said the attackers "used electronic equipment" and were not present at the scene. He gave no further details.

The Iranian defence ministry initially reported that Fakhrizadeh was shot when several gunmen targeted his car.

Israel has not commented on the claims.

Fakhrizadeh played a crucial role in Iran's nuclear programme in the early 2000s and more recently had been accused by Israel of continuing to help in the secret development of a nuclear weapon.

Iran insists that its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful.

The funeral ceremony for Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was held at the defence ministry in Tehran. His remains were then transferred to a cemetery in the north of the capital.

Iranian state television showed the flag-draped coffin being carried by troops, and senior officials - including Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi, Revolutionary Guards commander Gen Hossein Salami and nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi - paying their respects.

Rear Admiral Shamkhani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, told the ceremony that Iranian intelligence and security services had been aware of a plot to assassinate Fakhrizadeh, and that they had even predicted where the attack might take place.

media captionThe road near Tehran where gunmen opened fire on Mohsen Fakhrizadeh
"Necessary improvements were made for his security, but the enemy used completely new, professional and special methods and, unfortunately, they were successful," he said.

He added: "It was a very complex mission using electronic equipment. There was no-one present at the scene."

The admiral said there were "some clues" about the perpetrators' identities, but that members of Mojahedin-e Khalq (MKO), an exiled Iranian opposition group opposed to clerical rule, were "surely" involved, along with "the Zionist regime and the Mossad" - a reference to Israel and its intelligence agency.

The comments came a day after Iran's Fars news agency, which is linked to the Revolutionary Guards, reported that Fakhrizadeh was killed by a "remote-controlled machine gun".

Arabic-language Al Alam TV meanwhile reported that the weapons used in the attack were "controlled by satellite".

In the aftermath of Friday's attack, Iran's defence ministry had said that "armed terrorists" targeted Fakhrizadeh's car in the town of Absard, to the east of Tehran, and that the scientist was fatally wounded during a gunfight between his bodyguards and the assailants.

Pictures on social media showed a road strewn with wreckage and blood, and a bullet-riddled car.

In his own speech at Monday's funeral, Defence Minister General Amir Hatami reiterated Iran's determination to avenge Fakhrizadeh's killing.

"The enemies know, and I as a soldier tell them, that no crime, no terror and no stupid act will go unanswered by the Iranian people," he said.

As head of Iran's Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, known by its Persian acronym SPND, Fakhrizadeh had carried out "considerable work" in the area of "nuclear defence", the general said.

The government would double SPND's budget in order to continue the path of the "martyr doctor" with "more speed and more power", he added.

Source BBC

 

[Firebat]

Iranian MPs seek hardening of nuclear stance after scientist killed

DUBAI (Reuters) - A bill requiring Iran’s government to suspend nuclear inspections unless sanctions are lifted, and ignore other restraints on its nuclear programme agreed with major powers, was passed by the hardline-led parliament on Tuesday.

But the government promptly said the move, proposed in response to the assassination of a top nuclear scientist on Friday, could not change Iran’s nuclear policy, which was the province of the Supreme National Security Council.

“Death to America! Death to Israel!” lawmakers chanted after passing a draft of the bill in a session broadcast live on state radio.

Lawmakers later passed the full bill, including a provision requiring the government to suspend United Nations nuclear inspections if Western powers which are still part of the 2015 nuclear accords, as well as China and Russia, do no re-establish Iran’s access to world banking and oil markets within a month.

Parliament has often demanded a hardening of Iran’s position on the nuclear issue in recent years, without much success.

In this case, the government must decide whether a sharp response to Friday’s killing of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh might jeopardise the prospect of an improvement in ties with the United States once Joe Biden takes over from Donald Trump as president.

“The government believes that, under the constitution, the nuclear accord and the nuclear programme... are under the jurisdiction of the Supreme National Security Council... and parliament cannot deal with this by itself,” government spokesman Ali Rabiei told reporters, according to state media.

A senior Iranian official said on Monday that Tehran suspected a foreign-based opposition group of complicity with Israel in the killing of Fakhrizadeh, whom Western powers see as the architect of an abandoned Iranian nuclear weapons programme. The group rejected the accusation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has declined to comment on the killing. Israeli cabinet minister Tzachi Hanegbi said on Saturday he did not know who had carried it out.

The bill, which still needs to be endorsed by a clerical body to become law, also called for Iran to enrich uranium “for peaceful uses” to 20% purity in breach of the nuclear accord.Iran has already breached the limits set in its deal with world powers, which scrapped sanctions in return for curbs to Tehran’s nuclear programme, to protest at Trump’s withdrawal from the accord and the reimposition of sanctions.

The maximum fissile purity to which it has enriched uranium has remained around 4.5%, above the deal’s 3.67% cap but below the 20% Iran had achieved before, and below the 90% purity that is considered weapons-grade.

Biden has said he will return the United States to the 2015 deal if Iran resumes compliance. Iran has always denied pursuing nuclear weapons.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...r-stance-after-scientist-killed-idUSKBN28B3ZH

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Iran believes that Israel and an exiled opposition group used a remotely-controlled weapon to kill top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh on Friday.

In a speech at Fakhrizadeh's funeral in Tehran, security chief Ali Shamkhani said the attackers "used electronic equipment" and were not present at the scene. He gave no further details.

Source BBC

Lol they are so embarrassed to admit that Mossad and the CIA can freely operate within Iran that they’re now coming out with such nonsense to placate their own population.

 

[The Viper]

Iran accuses West of backing Israel on scientist assassination

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has accused Israel of killing its top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh amid the silence and complicity of the West and also called on Iran’s Gulf neighbours not to support Israel against Iran.

“Why is the West supporting Israeli terrorism? Why is Israel committing acts of terror against Iran, including [killing] our nuclear scientist, without condemnation and consequences from the West?” said Zarif addressing Med2020, an international forum held in Rome, on Thursday.

“I want to ask our neighbours, are they ready to fight Israel’s fight with Iran?” said Zarif in reference to the recent agreements to normalise diplomatic ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

“We are neighbours we will be in this region together, I don’t think they will allow Israel to bring the fight here.”

It was the first time Zarif spoke on an international platform after Fakhrizadeh’s killing last week, which caused outrage in the country and prompted the Iranian Parliament to demand its government to ramp up its nuclear programme.

While no party has claimed responsibility for the killing of Fakhrizadeh – viewed by Western powers as the architect of Iran’s abandoned nuclear weapons programme – Iran has accused Israel.

The assassination may complicate US President-elect Joe Biden’s intention to restore the Iranian nuclear deal. Outgoing President Donald Trump walked out of the agreement, signed by the previous administration, in 2018.

Zarif warned that the decision of the parliament would soon become law but could be reversed if sanctions against Iran were lifted and the US rejoined the nuclear deal without preconditions. But the US needed to take the first step, Zarif said.

“We did not withdraw, the US did,” said Zarif.

“Iran will go back to full compliance but the US must implement their obligations without preconditions. They must go back to full compliance and normalise Iran’s economic relations with the world. Stop making new conditions and outrageous demands. We showed the West our bona fides, now it’s time for the US to show theirs.”

‘International agression’
On Tuesday, the Iranian Parliament passed a bill demanding a stop to United Nations nuclear inspections and asking the executive to boost uranium enrichment.

Zarif said the killing of the scientist was an act of “international aggression” and that Iran had a right to suspend its compliance with the nuclear deal and restart enrichment since European countries were giving in to US pressures and not implementing their part of the agreement.

“Despite claims to the contrary, since Trump walked out Europeans were not able to implement their part the deal … for instance, they keep freezing our assets because of US sanctions. They are not buying our oil or setting up companies in Iran,” Zarif said.

Asked if he would re-engage with the new US administration after Biden expressed his willingness to restore the nuclear deal, Zarif said Iran would do its part but the US was no longer in a position to dictate conditions.

“Iran’s proposal [for re-engagement] has been on the table for a long time, but unfortunately it’s the blank check the US has given to its clients in the region that is preventing the restoration of peace.”

He said Iran would not stay idle while its neighbours continue to build up their military strength.

“We want to engage with neighbours and once they understand that there will not be a blank cheque from Trump … they will start talking to Iran and and we will be able to address our mutual grievances past and present,” said Zarif.

“We have an open eye and open ear, we should all be forward-looking to mend a disaster of four years of the Trump administration.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/...ntist-assassination?__twitter_impression=true

 

[JaDed]

I wish there was an Iranian forum to check what their citizens think of their country, the amount of stupidity their establishment has committed in last 2 years w.r.t covid, shooting down a plane unable to protect their human assets inspite of being aware regarding the danger is remarkable.

 

[zain7077]

Satellite-Controlled Gun Used To Kill Iranian Nuclear Scientist: Report
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was driving on a highway east of the capital when the weapon "zoomed in" on him "using artificial intelligence," an official said

A satellite-controlled machine gun was used in last week's assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was killed in a gun and car bomb attack on the outskirts of Tehran on November 27, was driving on a highway east of the capital when the weapon "zoomed in" on him "using artificial intelligence," Mehr said on Sunday, quoting Commodore Ali Fadavi, deputy commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Various accounts of his death have emerged since the incident. While early news reports said he was caught in a gunfight between his bodyguards, others said that he was fired at by a remote-controlled machine gun mounted on a pick-up truck operated by someone who later fled the country.

Fadavi said on Sunday that the gun fired a total of 13 shots at Fakhrizadeh and managed to target him with such accuracy that his wife, sitting just inches away from him in the same vehicle, escaped injury. He added that 11 bodyguards in separate cars were also accompanying the couple at the time.

The incident is the second targeted killing of a high-ranking Iranian official since January, when outgoing US President Donald Trump ordered a drone strike on General Qassem Soleimani.

Tehran has blamed Israel for Fakhrizadeh's killing, the fifth assassination of a nuclear scientist on Iranian soil since 2010. Israel hasn't commented on the allegations, however Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had singled out the scientist in a power-point presentation on Iran's nuclear program in April 2018.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/rem...ist-report-2335169?pfrom=home-ndtv_topstories

 

[MenInG]

Iran is "dangerously" close to finishing its nuclear weapons programme and will soon get its hand on a bomb unless the West stands up to the regime, Israel's prime minister has told The Telegraph.

As Israeli officials said Western allies were "waking up" to the threat of Iran becoming a nuclear power, Naftali Bennett called on Britain to keep up the pressure on Tehran's leaders.

"Iran is enriching uranium at an unprecedented rate and moving dangerously close to getting their hands on nuclear weapons," Mr Bennett told The Telegraph this week.

It comes as Iran is said to have begun enriching uranium at levels of more than 60 per cent, which would provide enough material to build a bomb. Tehran denies it is building nuclear weapons.

A nuclear-armed Iran would represent another major global security threat while the West is engaged in supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Naftali Bennett, Israel's prime minister, called on Britain to keep up the pressure on Tehran's leaders amid threats posed by its nuclear development - GIL COHEN-MAGEN© Provided by The Telegraph Naftali Bennett, Israel's prime minister, called on Britain to keep up the pressure on Tehran's leaders amid threats posed by its nuclear development - GIL COHEN-MAGEN
Iran resumed work on its nuclear programme after President Donald Trump withdrew from the Obama-era nuclear deal in 2018.

Talks in Vienna on restoring the pact have stalled, and Western officials suspect Iran has concluded that it will gain maximum leverage on lifting sanctions once it completes the programme.

The Telegraph understands that Israel has asked Britain to consider a "tripwire" mechanism to further deter Iran from obtaining the bomb. This would hit Iran with greater sanctions if it continued on a path towards nuclear weapons or, in the event of a nuclear deal, if it resumed the programme at a later stage.

Israel Hayom, an Israeli newspaper, reported that Iran already had enough fissile material to make nuclear bombs, citing anonymous Israeli government sources. However a source familiar with the Iranian nuclear programme said this was likely to be an exaggeration.

Mr Bennett told The Telegraph that the world must confront Iran over its nuclear weapons programme.

"Without pressure from the west, the Islamic regime in Iran could get their hands on a nuclear bomb very soon. The world must take a firm stance and tell the Islamic regime in Iran: no nukes, no sanctions. Iran’s nuclear program won’t stop until it’s stopped," he said.

Western diplomats are already starting to abandon hope of reviving the Iran nuclear deal as they recognise the regime is secretly building a nuclear bomb, officials in Israel believe.

Government sources said that the West appears to be approaching a tipping point where it no longer trusts Iran's claim that it is developing a peaceful energy programme.

This week, the UN's atomic agency said Tehran was failing to cooperate on investigations into its nuclear programme.

Iranian officials have turned off at least two surveillance cameras used by the agency, the IAEA, to monitor nuclear sites in what appeared to be a preemptive retaliation for the IAEA warning.

How the nuclear deal unravelled
In 2015 Iran signed a nuclear deal with world powers limiting uranium enrichment and nuclear stockpiles so that it would not amass enough material for an atomic weapon until 2030.

The slow collapse of the joint comprehensive plan of action – as the nuclear deal is known – has increased tensions between the hardliners ruling Iran and the United States and its regional allies.

Donald Trump abandoned the deal and announced a new “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions aimed at crippling Iran’s economy and forcing it to negotiate a more stringent agreement.

But instead of being brought to heel, Iran responded by progressively walking back from its commitments under the 2015 agreement.

In stages Tehran resumed its enrichment of uranium, restarted research and development of advanced centrifuges, and drastically increased its stockpile of nuclear fuel. Estimates of Iran’s “breakout time” – the duration needed for it to amass enough nuclear material to build a nuclear bomb – have decreased from months to weeks.

Iran still insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes and there is no publicly available evidence suggesting that it is actually preparing to transform its stockpile of enriched nuclear fuel into an atomic weapon.

But an alarmed Israel has always maintained it would not wait until it is too late to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. In the past few years a series of mysterious assassinations and sabotage incidents at Iranian nuclear facilities have carried the hallmark of Mossad operations.

In November 2020, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a top nuclear scientist, was assassinated on a country road outside Tehran by a robot machine gun that self-destructed after successful carrying out its operation.

In April 2021, the day after Iran activated advanced centrifuges – restricted under the JCPOA at the Natanz nuclear plant, the uranium enrichment site was hit by a large explosion that destroyed the power system that supplied underground centrifuges, setting back Iran's enrichment capabilities by at least nine months. Natanz had also been targeted in July of the previous year, with concealed explosives that had been smuggled into the facility months earlier.

Israel has not publicly claimed these operations, complicating Iran’s decisions over how to respond. Tehran feels it must retaliate to impose a cost to deter further attacks, while limiting escalation and the impact on JCPOA negotiations. The result has been a shadow war on shipping in the region, with dozens of civilian vessels linked to Israel and Iran targeted in ***–for-tat attacks involving mines, drones and commandos.

Joe Biden came to power promising to restore the agreement. The parties began negotiations in Vienna last April, with the United States participating indirectly after distrustful Iranian diplomats refused to meet them face-to-face.

After coming tantalisingly close to agreement, talks have been at an impasse since March over the final details.

On Thursday, after the UN nuclear watchdog lambasted Iran for its continued failure to explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites, Tehran retaliated by announcing it was removing nearly all of the monitoring equipment installed under the JCPOA.

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, that Tehran's removal this week of 27 cameras monitoring its nuclear sites could deal a "fatal blow" to chances of reviving the agreement.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/worl...sedgntp&cvid=d7385d586ed54c37b3c17d977a557f24

 

[MenInG]

AFP :

Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Monday urged citizens in Turkey to leave “as soon as possible” over threats that Iranian operatives are actively planning attacks on Israelis in Istanbul.

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“It’s a real and immediate danger,” Lapid told a meeting of lawmakers from his Yesh Atid party, citing “several Iranian attempts at carrying out terror attacks against Israelis on holiday in Istanbul.”

“If you are already in Istanbul, return to Israel as soon as possible,” Lapid said. “If you have planned a flight to Istanbul -- cancel. No vacation is worth your life,” he added.

“Do not fly to Turkey at all,” unless such travel is “essential,” the foreign minister added.

Iran and Israel are arch rivals and Tehran has accused the Jewish state of carrying out a series of assassinations targeting senior Iranian nuclear and military personnel.

Most recently, Iran claimed that Israel was responsible for the killing of Revolutionary Guards Colonel Sayyad Khodai, who was shot dead outside his Tehran home on May 22.

Lapid made no reference to any alleged Israeli operations inside Iran.

But he said that some Israelis who recently travelled to Turkey had returned “without knowing their lives were saved.”

The alleged attackers were targeting Israeli citizens “in order to kidnap them or kill them,” Lapid said.

Earlier Monday, Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported on Iranian plans to kidnap Israelis in Turkey a month ago, which was thwarted after Israel alerted Ankara about the threat.

Lapid thanked the Turkish government “for the effort they’re putting into protecting the lives of Israeli citizens,” without providing details.

 

[MenInG]

Iran is technically capable of making a nuclear bomb but has not decided whether to build one, a senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Qatar's al Jazeera TV on Sunday.

Kamal Kharrazi spoke a day after U.S. President Joe Biden ended his four-day trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, vowing to stop Iran from "acquiring a nuclear weapon." read more

Kharrazi's comments were a rare suggestion that Iran might have an interest in nuclear weapons, which it has long denied seeking.

"In a few days we were able to enrich uranium up to 60% and we can easily produce 90% enriched uranium ... Iran has the technical means to produce a nuclear bomb but there has been no decision by Iran to build one," Kharrazi said.

Iran is already enriching to up to 60%, far above a cap of 3.67% under Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Uranium enriched to 90% is suitable for a nuclear bomb.

In 2018, former U.S. President Donald Trump ditched the nuclear pact, under which Iran curbed its uranium enrichment work, a potential pathway to nuclear weapons, in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

In reaction to Washington's withdrawal and its reimposition of harsh sanctions, Tehran started violating the pact's nuclear restrictions.

Last year, Iran's intelligence minister said Western pressure could push Tehran to seek nuclear weapons, the development of which Khamenei banned in a fatwa, or religious decree, in the early 2000s.

Iran says it is refining uranium only for civilian energy uses, and has said its breaches of the international deal are reversible if the United States lifts sanctions and rejoins the agreement.

The broad outline of a revived deal was essentially agreed in March after 11 months of indirect talks between Tehran and Biden's administration in Vienna.

But talks then broke down over obstacles including Tehran's demand that Washington should give guarantees that no U.S. president will abandon the deal, the same way Trump did.

Biden cannot promise this because the nuclear deal is a non-binding political understanding, not a legally-binding treaty.

"The United States has not provided guarantees on preserving the nuclear deal and this ruins the possibility of any agreement," Kharrazi said.

Israel, which Iran does not recognise, has threatened to attack Iranian nuclear sites if diplomacy fails to contain Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Kharrazi said Iran would never negotiate its balistic missile programme and regional policy, as demanded by the West and its allies in the Middle East. read more

"Any targeting of our security from neighbouring countries will be met with direct response to these countries and Israel."

REUTERS

 

[daytrader]

Saudi minister says ‘all bets off’ if Iran gets nuclear weapon
Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said that Saudi Arabia supports efforts to revive the stalled Iran nuclear deal as ‘a starting point, not an end point’.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister has said that Iran’s Gulf Arab neighbours would take measures to shore up their security if Tehran were to obtain nuclear weapons.

“If Iran gets an operational nuclear weapon, all bets are off,” Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said on Sunday in an on-stage interview at the World Policy Conference in Abu Dhabi when asked about such a scenario.

“We are in a very dangerous space in the region … you can expect that regional states will certainly look towards how they can ensure their own security.”

Indirect US-Iranian talks to salvage a 2015 nuclear pact between global powers and Iran, which Washington exited in 2018, stalled in September. The United Nations nuclear chief has voiced concern over a recent announcement by Tehran that it was boosting enrichment capacity.

The nuclear talks have stalled with Western powers accusing Iran of raising unreasonable demands, and with the focus shifting to the Russia-Ukraine war as well as domestic unrest in Iran over the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

Though Riyadh remained “sceptical” about the Iran nuclear deal, Prince Faisal said it supported efforts to revive the pact “on condition that it be a starting point, not an end point” for a stronger deal with Tehran.

Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab states have pressed for a stronger agreement that addresses their concerns about Shia Iran’s missiles and drones programme and network of regional proxies.

“The signs right now are not very positive, unfortunately,” Prince Faisal said.

“We hear from the Iranians that they have no interest in a nuclear weapons programme. It would be very comforting to be able to believe that. We need more assurance on that level.”

Iran says its nuclear technology is solely for civil purposes.

A senior Emirati official said on Saturday, December 10 that there was an opportunity to revisit “the whole concept” of the nuclear pact given the current spotlight on Tehran’s weapons, with Western states accusing Russia of using Iranian drones to attack targets in Ukraine. Iran and Russia deny the charges.

Al-Jazeera