Iran killing raises heat
Hit on nuclear scientist bad news for Biden
WASHINGTON: The assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist, which Tehran has blamed on Israel, risks not only sharpening tensions across the region but also severely complicating plans by US President- elect Joe Biden to resume dialogue with the Islamic republic.
Iran has accused arch- foe Israel of seeking to sow “chaos” by killing Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, 59, and strongly implied the Jewish state was acting with US blessing.
Washington has not officially commented on the operation in which gunmen targeted Mr Fakhrizadeh’s car on a road outside Tehran, according to Iran’s defence ministry.
But US President Donald Trump has retweeted others’ comments on the incident, including at least one that said the scientist had been “wanted for many years by Mossad”, the Israeli intelligence agency.
Mr Trump in 2018 withdrew the US from the multi- nation nuclear agreement with Iran, instead launching a “maximum pressure” campaign that he appears determined to pursue until he leaves office in January.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who recently visited Israel, on Friday announced economic sanctions against Chinese and Russian firms accused of having supported Iran’s missile program.
“This administration … is here until January 20” and will “continue to pursue its policies”, a senior US official travelling with Mr Pompeo said.
But for some US analysts, the killing of Mr Fakhrizadeh was a dangerous act that undercut Mr Biden’s intention of offering Iran “a credible path back to diplomacy” as a step towards the US rejoining the nuclear accord.
Former CIA head John Brennan tweeted that the scientist’s killing was a “criminal act and highly reckless”, saying it “risks lethal retaliation and a new round of regional conflict”.
Mr Brennan, who led the US intelligence agency from 2013- 2017 when Barack Obama was president and Mr Biden was vice president, exhorted Iran to “wait for the return of responsible American leadership on the global stage and resist the urge to respond against perceived culprits”.
That view was shared by Ben Friedman, a defence specialist at George Washington University. The killing, he said, was “an act of sabotage against US diplomacy and interests” and would “likely help Iranian hardliners who want nuclear weapons”.
Ben Rhodes, a former adviser to Mr Obama, said: “This is an outrageous action aimed at undermining diplomacy between an incoming US administration and Iran.”
Some analysts, however, saw the killing as providing leverage to the incoming administration that could be useful in possible future negotiations with Tehran.