A parliamentarian reveals the details of the assassination of Fakhri Zadeh...

Fereydoun Abbasi, a member of parliament and former head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Authority, revealed the details of the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. As for Kamal Kharrazi, head of the Iranian Strategic Council for Foreign Relations, he said that his country would respond “calculated” to the assassination of the nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, at a time when a local newspaper suggested targeting Haifa in Israel.

Abbasi said that the nuclear scientist was returning from the north of the country towards the capital, accompanied by his personal bodyguard, on board an armored car that was hit near Damavand, on the outskirts of Tehran, for 3 shots.

There was no suggestion that they were bullets – as the deputy explains – prompting Fakhrizadeh to stop the car to find out what was going on.

Abbasi explained that the nuclear scientist and his companions were targeted by firing from a remote-controlled automatic weapon that was attached to a car, and not by a group of perpetrators as previously announced. He concluded by saying that Fakhri Zadeh was hit by 3 bullets, two in the shoulder and one in the back, and an explosion followed. Dimension of the vehicle carrying the automatic machine gun.

In the context, Reuters quoted a statement by Kamal Kharrazi – a senior adviser to the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei – as saying, “There is no doubt that Iran will respond with a calculated and decisive response to the criminals who targeted the martyr Mohsen Fakhrizadeh and deprived the Iranian people of him.”

Fakhrizadeh, who had long been suspected by the West and the Israeli government of being the mastermind of a secret nuclear weapons program, was killed Friday when he was ambushed near the capital, Tehran, and his car came under fire.

Religious and military leaders in Tehran have blamed Tel Aviv, which has previously been accused of killing several Iranian nuclear scientists since 2010.

The National Security Committee in Parliament confirmed that it had obtained information according to which the security authorities had accessed important evidence and information regarding the assassination, and revealed that the preliminary investigations indicated that Israel was behind the assassination of Fakhrizadeh.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to comment on the killing.

But the daily Kayhan, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by the guide, suggested an attack on the coastal city of Haifa in Israel if it was proven that the latter had a role in the killing of Fakhrizadeh.

“The attack must be carried out in a manner that foresees heavy casualties in addition to destroying the facilities,” Saadallah Zarei said in an opinion piece for the newspaper.

Possible responses

In the context of the possible Iranian responses, Deputy in Parliament Alireza Salimi said that members of the Council discussed during a closed meeting the possibility of stopping commitment to the Additional Protocol to the Treaty on the Prohibition of the Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Salimi added that the reason for the unfortunate events and the assassination of scientists is the inspection process carried out by the International Atomic Energy Agency in the country, as he put it.

The spokesman for the Atomic Energy Authority (National) Behrouz Kamalondi had said earlier that any decision in this regard would be taken by the relevant higher authorities and not by one party.

For his part, Parliament Speaker Muhammad Baqer Qalibaf called for a strict response to the assassination of the nuclear scientist, and said that this process reveals the enemies’ fear of Iran’s achievements and progress.

Qalibaf added – in a parliament meeting – that the response to the assassination of Fakhrizadeh should be firm and strong “so that the enemy feels remorse” for carrying out this operation.

He stressed that the incident should lead to the strengthening of Iran’s security and nuclear power, he said.

On the other hand, Commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard, Major General Ismail Qaani, said that his country would respond to the assassination of its nuclear scientist.

Israeli Channel 12 reported that a state of heightened alert was declared in the country’s embassies around the world after Iranian threats of retaliation.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz believed that US President Donald Trump – whose presidency will soon end – gave his blessing for the assassination of Fakhri Zadeh, known as the father of the Iranian nuclear project.

She added in her editorial today under the title “A dangerous provocation” that this process carries with it the potential for a dangerous regional escalation aimed at exploiting the remaining moments of the term of the outgoing (American) president, in order to restrict (the next president) Joe Biden and thwart an American return to the nuclear agreement between Iran and the great powers .

The funeral ceremony

The funeral of the nuclear scientist’s body and its transfer to the northeastern city of Mashhad began.

And the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday that the body of Fakhri Zadeh was transported on Saturday night to Mashhad, for the circumambulation and prayer of it in the shrine of Imam Ali Al-Ridha, the eighth of the infallible Shiite imams.

According to the Ministry of Defense, the body will be transferred at a later time to the shrine of Lady Fatima “Al-Masoumeh” in Qom, south of Tehran, and that its last stop will be tomorrow in the shrine of Imam Khomeini in the capital, Tehran.