Dubai: A senior Iranian official said Monday an opposition group was involved alongside Israel in the killing of a prominent Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. The killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh has once more raised the prospect of a new standoff between Tehran and its longtime enemy.
Iran’s English-language ‘Press TV’ reported the weapon used in Friday’s killing of Fakhrizadeh was made in Israel. “The weapons collected from the site of the terrorist act bear the logo and specifications of the Israeli military industry,” an unnamed source told ‘Press TV’.
In Jerusalem, there was no immediate reply from Israeli officials contacted for comment on the report.
Speaking before the ‘Press TV’ report, Israeli intelligence minister Eli Cohen told radio station 103 FM Monday that he did not know who was responsible.
Fakhrizadeh had little public profile in Iran. He had been named by Israel as a prime player in what it says is Iran’s nuclear weapons quest. He was killed Friday when he was ambushed on a highway near Tehran and his car sprayed with bullets.
Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, told state TV: “This was a very complicated assassination that was carried out remotely with electronic devices. We have some clues but surely the ‘Monafeghin’ group was involved and the criminal element behind it is the Zionist regime (Israel) and Mossad.
‘Monafeghin’ is a term officials employ to refer to the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). It is an umbrella bloc of opposition groups in exile that seek an end to Shi’ite Muslim clerical rule.
Iran began Fakhrizadeh’s burial Monday at a cemetery in northern Tehran, state TV reported. Iran’s defence minister promised the Islamic Republic would retaliate for his killing. Iran’s clerical and military rulers have blamed Israel for Fakhrizadeh’s killing.
Iran’s semi-official ‘Fars’ news agency said Sunday that Fakhrizadeh had been killed by a machine gun operated by remote control. However, the Arabic language Al Alam TV reported the weapons used in the attack were ‘controlled by satellite’.
When asked about potential Iranian reprisals, Cohen told radio station 103: “We have regional intelligence supremacy. On this matter we are prepared. We are increasing vigilance, in the places where that is required.”
Iran’s hardline ‘Kayhan’ daily, whose editor-in-chief is named by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in an opinion piece Sunday called for an attack on the Israeli port city of Haifa, if an Israeli role in Fakhrizadeh’s killing is proven.
However, Iran’s rulers are aware of daunting military and political difficulties in attacking Israel. Such an attack would also complicate any effort by US President-elect Joe Biden to revive detente with Tehran after he takes office January 20.