Israel has played a "role" in the attack on prominent Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was killed on Friday near Tehran, the Islamic Republic's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has said.

Zarif said in a tweet that an "eminent" Iranian scientist had been killed by unnamed "terrorists".

He also said Tehran had "serious indications" to believe that Tel Aviv had had some role in the incident, but did not provide any specific evidence to substantiate his accusation.

The foreign minister also called on the international community, and particularly the EU, to condemn the fatal attack, while accusing the European Union of what he called "shameful double standards."

His statement came after Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahavadi was attacked during an armed standoff between his bodyguards and unidentified assailants in the city of Absard, just east of the Iranian capital Tehran.

The scientist and his security staff were reportedly targeted in a suicide bombing and gun attack.

Back in 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the researcher was the head of Iran's alleged nuclear weapons development project dubbed the 'Amad' ('Hope').

Tehran repeatedly stated that its nuclear program was purely peaceful. The International Atomic Energy Agency monitoring Iran's nuclear sites also said that the 'Amad' program had ended in early 2000s.

The Israeli authorities have not commented on the latest incident.

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According to Tasnim news agency, the attack took place at 2:30 p.m., local time, in the town of Absard to the east of Tehran. The media quoted eyewitnesses who said that they heard an explosion, followed by a barrage of gunfire.

© Reuters/Wana News Agency
Nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh

Fakhrizadeh was travelling in a car together with his bodyguards. A parked Nissan truck laden with explosives hidden under a load of wood reportedly blew up at the moment when Fakhrizadeh's car approached the area. The explosion forced Fakhrizadeh's sedan to stop on the avenue, which is when five or six gunmen emerged from a nearby vehicle and opened fire on his car, the agency added.

His relatives were with him at the time of the attack, however, it was not immediately clear if any of them were in the same vehicle, according to Tasnim. This information has not been so far officially confirmed.

The report does not specify how much information the United States might have possessed in advance about the operation. There has not been any official comment on the report from the White House or the CIA.

​Iran's Ambassador to the UN Majid Takht Ravanchi also suggested that there were "serious indications of Israeli responsibility" in the assassination of the nuclear scientist, according to a letter to the United Nations published on Saturday.

"Hezbollah strongly condemns the terrorist attack that resulted in the death of prominent scholar and teacher Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. We are convinced that the Islamic Republic [of Iran] is capable of resisting all these threats, detecting criminals and stopping those who threaten the lives of Iranian scientists and representatives of the country's leadership, whoever they are."

A report in The New York Times earlier cited three US officials as claiming that Israel was behind the assassination of Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in an attack near Iran's capital Tehran on Friday.

The attack on the high-profile physicist may be perceived as part an effort by the Donald Trump administration and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu government to use the time left until projected President-elect Democrat Joe Biden assumes office to exert more pressure on Iran.

Iranian army commander Mohammed Bagheri admitted that the assassination of the leading nuclear expert in the country was a blow to the Iranian defense establishment.

Accordingly, Israeli officials reportedly briefed a spate of media outlets in Israel that without Fakhrizade it will be hard for Iran to continue its nuclear program.

Feeding into the speculations that the current developments might seek to ramp up pressure on Iran while sending a message to the Biden team was the recent trilateral meeting between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, writes the outlet.

"The terrorist groups and the perpetrators of this hideous act should know that they will face severe revenge," said General Mohammad Bagheri, Iran's chief of staff and a Revolutionary Guards Corps commander.

"We have noted the reports that an Iranian nuclear scientist has been assassinated near Tehran today. We urge restraint and the need to avoid any actions that could lead to an escalation of tensions in the region," said Farhan Haq, a spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has blamed 'mercenaries of the usurping Zionist regime'. "Once again, the evil hands of global arrogance were stained with the blood ... of the mercenary usurper Zionist regime," Rouhani added that the assassination shows "the inability of the sworn enemies of the Iranian nation" to stop its scientific progress and "the depth of their malice and resentment". He added that younger Iranian scientists will step up and take Fakhrizadeh's place.

Berlin has urged "all parties" to avoid escalating tensions. A few weeks before the new US administration takes office, it is important to preserve the scope for talks with Iran so that the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme can be resolved through negotiations, We therefore urge all parties to refrain from any steps that could lead to a further escalation of the situation."

A US aircraft carrier and other warships are headed to the Persian Gulf to bolster troop withdrawals in the region, a defense source told CNN, insisting the deployment is unrelated to the recent murder of a top Iranian scientist. The ships will provide "combat support and air cover as US troops withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan" by mid-January under orders from President Donald Trump, moving a sizable arsenal into the region just months before he is set to leave office.

Iran's top scientist was assassinated with a remote-controlled machine gun from 150 meters away, semi-official news agency Fars said, contradicting previous detailed reports of a 12-person commando team doing the killing.

Citing "new details" obtained by its journalists from unidentified sources, Fars said on Sunday that the lead security vehicle in scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh's three-vehicle convoy of bulletproof cars left its escort position to prepare the arrival location in Absard, east of Tehran.

Just then, the car carrying Fakhrizadeh and his wife was hit by bullets. He got out of the vehicle, thinking the sound was caused by an accident, engine trouble or an obstacle. A remote-controlled machine gun mounted on a Nissan car 150 meters away then fired at the scientist, hitting him twice in the side and once in the back, severing his spinal cord.

A bodyguard who tried to protect Fakhrizadeh was subsequently shot several times. The Nissan then blew up. Fars said the assassins deployed no live agents at the scene of Friday's attack, which lasted about three minutes. The unidentified owner of the Nissan left the country, Fars said, without identifying the destination.

...

Joe Biden on Sunday afternoon went to visit an orthopedist: "out of an abundance of caution, he will be examined by a doctor."

Biden's team was blocking reporters and wouldn't allow them to see Biden go in or leave the Orthopedist's office. Repeated requests were denied.

In fact, a press van was maneuvered so that reporters and photogs couldn't see Biden as he entered the building.

But one photog captured feeble Biden as he hobbled out of the orthopedic office.

Joe Biden's doctor said "there is no obvious fracture and he will be getting an additional CT for more detailed imaging."

Cristina Laila began writing for The Gateway Pundit in 2016 and she is currently the Associate Editor.

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The assassination of Imam Hussein University professor and senior Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi was the "highpoint" of a long-running "Israeli strategic plan" aimed at sabotaging Iran's alleged nuclear weapons programme, and deprived Tehran "of an irreplaceable source of knowledge", The Times of Israel has reported, citing local Hebrew-language media. "This is a diminution in knowledge that is irreplaceable," the official was quoted as saying.

Channel 13 reportedly indicated that the scientist had been a "target" of multiple Israeli prime ministers, and several different directors of the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency responsible for intelligence collection and covert operations, including assassinations and sabotage abroad.

The Jerusalem Post compared Fakhrizadeh's murder to the 1985 mafia killing of New York Gambino crime family boss Paul Castellano, suggesting the assassination showed "the power of those responsible" and that "any Iranian linked to the nuclear programme can be found and killed."

Prime Minister Netanyahu singled out Fakhrizadeh in an intelligence presentation in 2018, urging the international community to "remember that name", and alleging that the scientist was the head of an Iranian programme aimed at building a nuclear bomb in secret.

Israeli media have reported that its embassies around the world have been put "on high alert" in the wake of the assassination. The Times of Israel believes several other options for Iranian 'retaliation' are possible, including a major missile attack, a ramping up of Iran's nuclear program, and attacks on Tel Aviv via 'Iranian proxies' in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon.

Spontaneous rage broke out in Tehran and other major Iranian cities over Fakhrizadeh's death, with protesters burning American and Israeli flags, as well as portraits of President Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and demanding a halt in talks of any kind with Western powers.

An anonymous Israeli official, who has allegedly been involved in tracking Mohsen Fakhrizadeh for years, has told the New York Times that the world should thank Israel for the assassination of the scientist, described by Tel Aviv as the head of Iran's purported nuclear weapons programme.

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