Iranian leader urges revenge
Israel blamed for the ambush-style slaying of nuclear scientist
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s supreme leader on Saturday demanded the “definitive punishment” of those behind the killing of a scientist who led Tehran’s disbanded military nuclear program, as the Islamic Republic blamed Israel for a slaying that has raised fears of reignited tensions across the Middle East.
After years in the shadows, the image of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh suddenly was to be seen everywhere in Iranian media, as his widow spoke on state television and officials publicly demanded revengeonIsrael for the scientist’s slaying.
Israel, long suspected of killing Iranian scientists a decade ago amid earlier tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program, has yet to comment on the Friday killing of Fakhrizadeh. However, the attack bore the hallmarks of a carefully planned, military-style ambush, the likes of which Israel has been accused of conducting before.
The attack has renewed fears of Iran striking back against the U.S., Israel’s closest ally in the region, as it did earlier this year when a U.S. drone strike killed a top Iranian general. The U.S. military acknowledged moving an aircraft
carrier back into the region, while an Iranian lawmaker suggested throwing outU.N. nuclear inspectors in response to the killing.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Fakhrizadeh “the country’s prominent and distinguished nuclear and defensive scientist.” Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state, said Iran’s first priority after the killing was the “definitive punishment of the perpetrators and those who ordered it.” He did not elaborate.
Speaking earlier Saturday, President Hassan Rouhani blamed Israel for the killing.
“We will respond to the assassination of Martyr Fakhrizadeh in a proper time,” Rouhani said. “The Iranian nation is smarter than falling into the trap of the Zionists. Theyare thinking to create chaos.”
The United Nations called for restraint.
“Of course we condemn
any assassination or extrajudicial killing,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “We urge restraint and the need to avoid any actions that could lead to an escalation of tensions in the region.”
Rouhani and Khamenei said Fakhrizadeh’s death would not stop the nuclear program.
Fakhrizadeh headed Iran’s so-called AMAD program that Israel and the West have alleged was a military operation looking at the feasibility of building a nuclear weapon. The International Atomic Energy Agency says that “structured program” ended in 2003. Iran long has maintained its nuclear program is peaceful.
Fakhrizadeh’s widow appeared unnamed on state television in a black chador, saying his death would spark a thousand others to take up hiswork.
“He wanted to get martyred and his wish came true,” she said.
Hard-line Iranian media has begun circulating memorial images showing Fakhrizadeh standing
alongside a machine-guncradling likeness of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, whom the U.S. killed in the January drone strike.
Hours after the attack, the Pentagon announced it had brought theUSSNimitz aircraft carrier back into the Middle East, an unusual move as the carrier already spent months in the region. It cited the drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq as the reason for the decision, saying “it was prudent to have additional defensive capabilities in the region to meet any contingency.”
Iran has conducted attacks targeting Israeli interests abroad over the killing of its scientists, like in the case of the three Iranians recently freed in Thailand in exchange for a detained British-Australian academic.
Iran also could throwout inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, who have provided an unprecedented, realtime look at Iran’s nuclear programsince the deal. Nasrollah Pezhmanfar, a hardline lawmaker, said a state
ment calling to expel the “IAEA’s spy inspections” could be read Sunday, the parliament’s officialwebsite quoted him as saying.
Friday’s attack happened in Absard, a village east of the capital that is a retreat for the country’s elite. Iranian state television said a truck with explosives hidden under a load of wood blew up near a sedan carrying Fakhrizadeh.
As Fakhrizadeh’s sedan stopped, at least five gunmen emerged and raked the car with rapid fire, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency said. The precision of the attack led to the suspicion of Israel’sMossad intelligence service being involved. The CIA separately declined to comment on the attack Saturday.
In Tehran, a small group of hardline protesters burned images of Trump and President-elect JoeBiden, who has said his administration will consider reentering Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers. While burning an American and Israeli flag, the hardliners criticized Iran’s foreign minister who helped negotiate the nuclear deal.