Mohsen Fakhrizadeh

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Mahabadi (Persian: محسن فخری‌زاده مهابادی‎; 1958 – 27 November 2020) was a brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a senior official in the nuclear program of Iran.

He taught physics at Imam Hussein University in Tehran. A UN Security Council resolution in 2007 identified him as a senior scientist in the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics and the former head of the Physics Research Center (PHRC) at Lavizan-Shian. He was the leader of AMAD Project and the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research in Iran.

Early life

Fakhrizadeh was born in Qom in 1958. He became a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after the Iranian revolution in 1979.

Career

Academic career (1991–2020)

Fakhrizadeh has taken his bachelor in Nuclear Phisycs from University of Tehran in 1987, he continued his master studies in University of Isfahan and had a PhD in Nuclear Radiation and Cosmic Rays.

According to Alireza Jafarzadeh, Fakhrizadeh was a member of the Imam Hossein University faculty beginning in 1991.

In the early 2000s, Fakhrizadeh led an initiative called the Biological Study Centre, described as a successor to the Physics Research Centre (PHRC). The activities of this research group took place at Lavizan-Shian.

UN sanctions (2006–07)

As of 2006–07, Fakhrizadeh was subject to a United Nations Security Council asset freeze and travel notification requirements because the Council said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had asked to interview Fakhrizadeh and Iran refused to make him available. Iran has provided some information regarding Fakhrizadeh's work which the IAEA says is "not inconsistent with its findings", but the IAEA continues to seek corroboration of its findings. According to the UN designation, Fakhrizadeh was a senior Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics scientist and former head of the Physics Research Center (PHRC). The IAEA asked to interview him about the activities of the PHRC over the period he was head, but Iran denied the request. Fakhrizadeh was identified as a "key figure" in a 2007 report by the UN on Iran's nuclear programme.

Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (since 2011)

After the AMAD Project was discontinued, Fakhrizadeh has established and led the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), a government-funded entity specializing in the research and development of nuclear weapons. Transliterated Sazman-e Pazhohesh va Noavarihaye Defaee, SPND was founded in February 2011 and headquartered within Iran's Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics. Fakhrizadeh was SPND's director between 2008 and 2011. SPND was affiliated with Malek-Ashtar University of Technology.

Nuclear weapons programme (2007–2020)

An internal 2007 Iranian document leaked to The Sunday Times identified Fakhrizadeh as the chairman of the Field for the Expansion of Deployment of Advanced Technology (FEDAT), the cover name for the organization running Iran's nuclear weapons programme. The document, entitled Outlook for Special Neutron-Related Activities over the Next Four Years, lays out a four-year plan to develop a uranium deuteride neutron initiator.

In 2010, The Guardian reported that Fakhrizadeh was believed to be in charge of Iran's nuclear programme. In 2012, The Wall Street Journal called him "Tehran's atomic weapons guru"; in 2014, The New York Times called him the closest thing to an Iranian Oppenheimer. Following Fakhrizadeh's assassination, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described him as "the country's prominent and distinguished nuclear and defensive scientist". Western intelligence agencies, including those of the United States, alleged that Fakhrizadeh was in charge of Iran's nuclear programme, Project 111, which they contend is or was an attempt to create a nuclear bomb for Iran; Iran has denied that its nuclear programme has a military aspect. Fakhrizadeh has been referred to as the director of the Green Salt Project. According to The New York Times, Fakhrizadeh was described in classified portions of American intelligence reports as deeply involved in an effort to design a nuclear warhead for Iran.

Assassination

Ambush

On 27 November 2020, Fakhrizadeh was ambushed while traveling in a vehicle on a rural road in Absard, a city near Tehran. The attack was initiated when a truck carrying explosives hidden beneath a load of wood detonated near Fakhrizadeh's car. A second vehicle was destroyed with a bomb. Fakhrizadeh's bodyguards then clashed with gunmen. Three bodyguards were killed by the attackers, while others were wounded. Iranian sources reported that three to four of the attackers were killed. Fakhrizadeh's family members were also killed or injured in the attack. There were also reports of a suicide attacker who later died from his injuries.

Fakhrizadeh was taken to a hospital where he died after efforts to resuscitate him failed.

Following the incident, Iranian security forces reportedly began stopping vehicles in Tehran in a search for the culprits.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for his killing.

Response

Iran's Supreme National Security Council reportedly convened an emergency meeting attended by senior military commanders. Hossein Salami, the chief commander of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), called for revenge and punishment for the perpetrators of the assassination. Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, also called for the punishment of the perpetrators and commanders of the terrorist act; his international affairs adviser Ali Akbar Velayati called Mohsen Fakhrizadeh a "great martyr" and called for revenge. Iranian officials stated that Fakhrizadeh would receive "the burial of a national hero at one of the country’s holiest shrines".

A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for restraint to avoid possible conflicts. The Federal Foreign Office, Germany's foreign ministry, stated that "all parties" involved in the incident should avoid "escalation", suggesting that any further steps by the United States or Iran could imperil future international talks about Iran's nuclear programme.

Michael P. Mulroy, the Pentagon's former top Middle East policy official, called the assassination "a setback to Iran's nuclear program." Former CIA director John Brennan called the killing "criminal" and "highly reckless."

Allegations of Israeli involvement

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, suggested that Israel was behind the slaying of his country’s top nuclear scientist—and called it an act of "desperate warmongering". Confirming the killing, he tweeted: "Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today. This cowardice—with serious indications of Israeli role—shows desperate warmongering of perpetrators. Iran calls on the international community—and especially EU to end their shameful double standards & condemn this act of state terror." and alleged Israeli involvement in the incident. Abdolrahim Mousavi, head of the Iranian army, blamed Israel and the US and threatened revenge. Hezbollah also criticized the killing and alleged US and Israeli involvement.

According to The New York Times, Fakhrizadeh was the number one target of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. Mossad was allegedly involved in the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists, some of whom were Fakhrizadeh's deputies, in the 2010s. An American official and two other intelligence officials stated that Israel was behind the killing.

In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed Fakhrizadeh and urged his audience to "remember his name" due to the importance of Fakhrizadeh as head of the research division of the ministry of defense.

Trita Parsi, the founder of the National Iranian American Council, labelled Israel the "prime suspect". Mark Dubowitz, the chief executive of Foundation for Defense of Democracies, stated that the ambush "certainly has the hallmarks of an Israeli operation". According to The Guardian, Israel may have carried out the attack in order to take advantage of the waning term of President Trump.

US President Donald Trump retweeted an Israeli journalist's account of the incident.

Impact on Iran policy

Hossein Dehghan, the former minister of defense of Iran, who has been sanctioned by US Department of Treasury since November 2019, warned against any American military escalation in Trump's final weeks in office. In an interview with the Associated Press, he warned that any American attack on Iran could set off a "full-fledged war" in the region.

Impact on U.S. policy] See also: 2019–2020 Persian Gulf crisis

Commentators believe that the killing may raise tensions in the region, and may complicate incoming US President Joe Biden's relationship with Iran. Robert Malley, who advised previous US President Barack Obama on Iran, claimed that the attack was deliberately timed in order to make Biden's attempts to negotiate with Iran more difficult. Biden had pledged to rejoin the Iranian nuclear deal. In the first European reaction to the killing, Carl Bildt, co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, stated that "It’s not unlikely that this targeted killing was part of efforts to prevent the Biden administration from reviving diplomacy with Iran and going back to the nuclear agreement."

Former head of Israeli Defence Force intelligence Amos Yadlin claimed that "With the window of time left for Trump, such a move could lead Iran to a violent response, which would provide a pretext for a US-led attack on Iranian nuclear facilities."

The killing has been compared to that of Qasem Soleimani.

Several hours after the killing, the Pentagon announced the return of the USS Nimitz to the region.