Latest news with #Fakhrizadeh
NBC News
a day ago
- Politics
- NBC News
Can Iran secretly build a nuclear bomb without being caught by Israel?
Iran's top nuclear scientist was driving to his country house with his wife on an autumn day four years ago. As he slowed down for a speed bump, a remote-controlled machine gun mounted on a nearby pick-up truck fired a volley of bullets, killing him instantly, Iranian authorities said. The assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the architect of a dormant nuclear weapons project known as Project Amad, illustrated in brutal fashion how deeply Israel had penetrated Iran. That vulnerability has only been exposed further in recent weeks, with Israeli air strikes killing several other scientists believed to be involved in Iran's nuclear work. Iran's political leaders now face a dilemma. After the heavy U.S. bombing of their nuclear sites and air defenses, they can strike a painful compromise with Washington and abandon their uranium enrichment program, or revive the secret weapons project masterminded by Fakhrizadeh. Unlike other countries that were able to develop nuclear weapons in secret, Iran cannot assume it will be able to keep its work hidden. Israel has demonstrated repeatedly it can evade Iran's security, uncover its clandestine nuclear activities and hunt down senior figures in the military, former intelligence officials and experts said. 'Iran's principal challenge in pursuing a covert pathway is going to be keeping it hidden from U.S. and Israeli detection,' said Eric Brewer, a former intelligence official now with the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit focusing on global security. 'That's the key challenge, because both countries, particularly Israel, have demonstrated an ability to penetrate Iran's nuclear program,' he added. 'And Israel has demonstrated an ability to use kinetic force to take it out.' The Israeli air force has effectively wiped out Iran's air defenses. For the moment, Iran cannot protect any target on its territory -- especially suspected nuclear sites -- from a U.S. or Israeli bombing raid, former intelligence officials said. 'The Israelis have complete intelligence dominance over Iran,' said Marc Polymeropoulos, a former career CIA officer and now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. 'If they see something emanating as a threat, they will take it out. . .That could mean military strikes. It could be covert action.' Iran has already tried once to build an atomic bomb under the veil of secrecy. It had a covert nuclear weapons project more than two decades ago, according to Western intelligence agencies. But its cover was blown in December 2002, when satellite photos emerged showing an enrichment site in the city of Natanz and a heavy water plant about 200 miles away in Arak. Iran has denied it ever had a weapons program. Archival documents stolen in 2018 by Israel's Mossad spy agency, which the U.S. says are authentic, showed detailed plans to build five nuclear weapons. According to U.S. intelligence agencies, Iran abandoned its nuclear weapons project in 2003. At that point, the secrecy around the project had been breached and Iran had reason to be anxious in the wake of a U.S. invasion in neighboring Iraq. Since then, Iran maintained what it said was a civilian nuclear program. Iran's uranium enrichment and other nuclear work gave Tehran the potential option to pursue an eventual weapon if it chose to go that route – what arms control experts call a 'threshold' nuclear capability. Stolen blueprints If the regime chooses to race towards a bomb, it will be calculating that nuclear weapons will discourage any adversary from trying to stage an attack or topple its leadership. And it would be following a familiar path taken by other countries that successfully pursued secret bomb projects, including North Korea, Pakistan, India and Israel. The Israeli government kept the Americans in the dark about their nuclear weapons project for years. In the 1950s, French engineers helped Israel build a nuclear reactor and a secret reprocessing plant to separate plutonium from spent reactor fuel. Israel's government to this day does not officially confirm or deny its nuclear arsenal, saying it will not be the first to "introduce" nuclear weapons in the Middle East. India's nuclear program also began in the 1950s, with the United States and Canada providing nuclear reactors and nuclear fuel for purely peaceful purposes. India agreed to safeguards designed to prevent the reactors and fuel from being used for weapons. But India secretly reprocessed spent fuel into plutonium in the 1960s, building up fissile material for a nuclear weapon. By 1974, India carried out its first nuclear test, code-named Smiling Buddha. Pakistan built its bomb with the help of nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan, a metallurgist who stole blueprints and other information on advanced centrifuges while working at a nuclear engineering firm in Amsterdam. Khan later was linked with distributing nuclear weapons technology to Iran and North Korea among others. Khan's assistance in the 1990s proved crucial for North Korea's program. The Pyongyang regime also bought technology and hardware abroad through front companies or on the black market, according to U.N. monitors. It was America that helped Iran launch its nuclear program, before the 1979 revolution that toppled the monarchy. During the Shah's rule, through the U.S. 'Atoms for Peace Program,' the United States provided nuclear technology, fuel, training and equipment to Iran in the 1960s, including a research reactor. Now Iran likely has no need to turn to outside partners for technical know-how, experts say. Still, the regime will have a daunting task reconstituting whatever is left of its nuclear program. Every known nuclear site in Iran was targeted in Israel's air campaign earlier this month. And then last week the U.S. launched an attack on three enrichment sites using 14 'bunker buster' 30,000-pound bombs and more than a dozen Tomahawk missiles. The CIA says key facilities were destroyed and the nuclear program was 'severely damaged' in the strikes. Despite the unprecedented damage, which is still being assessed, it's possible Iran may have the technical means to relaunch a weapons program – including enriched uranium, centrifuges and access to tunnels or other underground sites, some arms control experts say. Iran's entire stockpile of highly enriched uranium has yet to be accounted for, and it has an unknown number of centrifuges in storage that were not located at the sites bombed by Israel, NBC News has reported. Iran's most significant technical obstacle, however, could be producing uranium metal. Iran only had one known site where it could convert uranium into a solid metal state, and Israeli air strikes destroyed it in Isfahan. Iran would not be able to produce a nuclear weapon without such a facility, and it's unclear if the regime has a secret uranium metal product plant elsewhere. Technical hurdles aside, the decision whether to build a nuclear bomb ultimately will be shaped by political considerations rather than technology or logistics, according to Jeffrey Lewis, an arms control expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. 'It really is a political decision not a technical one," Lewis said. "They still have a lot of capability left." After coming under a withering aerial assault that demonstrated Israel's air superiority, Iran may view nuclear weapons as the only way to defend itself and preserve the regime's survival, according to Marvin Weinbaum, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute think tank and a professor at the University of Illinois. 'Iran has every reason now, based on what's just happened, to say we've got to have a bomb, [and] we'll be treated differently if we do,' Weinbaum said. Officials in Iran's regime have long debated whether to develop nuclear weapons, and its policy over the past two decades appeared to strike a compromise, giving Tehran the option to go nuclear if circumstances required. The question for Iranian officials is whether nuclear weapons will help ensure the regime's survival or endanger its grip on power, regional analysts said. Looming over Iran's decision is the threat of Israeli espionage and air power, potentially catching Tehran in the act of rushing to produce a bomb. 'It will be interesting to see whether the regime buckles down and gets serious about it, or whether their operational security remains as terrible as ever,' Lewis said. 'They have been so careless.' President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff is due to hold talks on a possible agreement with Iran in coming days to try to halt its uranium enrichment in return for sanctions relief.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
How Israel launched attacks from inside Iran to sow chaos during war
Gilan, Iran – The Israeli military used hundreds of fighter jets, armed drones and refuelling planes to attack Iran during its 12-day war backed by the United States, but it was also heavily assisted by operations launched from deep within Iranian soil. Just hours after the Israeli army and Mossad spy agency started their attacks before dawn on June 13, they released footage that appeared to have been recorded at night from undisclosed locations inside Iran. One grainy video showed Mossad operatives, camouflaged and wearing tactical gear including night-vision goggles, crouched in what looked like desert terrain, deploying weapons that aimed to destroy Iran's air defence systems to help pave the way for incoming attack aircraft. Others showed projectiles, with mounted cameras, descending to slam into Iranian missile defence batteries, as well as ballistic missile platforms. The projectiles appeared to be Spike missiles – relatively small, precision-guided anti-armour missiles that can be programmed to fly to targets that are out of their line of sight. Iranian authorities also confirmed the use of the weapons, with state media showing images of remnants of customised Spike missile launchers that were discovered in one open area. They said the weapons were equipped with 'internet-based automation and remote-controlled systems' and were operated by 'terrorist Mossad agents'. The move partly echoed an Israeli operation in November 2020 that killed Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a senior figure in Iran's nuclear programme, who was gunned down in a city near Tehran while moving in a vehicle with his wife and bodyguards. Iranian authorities at the time confirmed that the assassination was carried out using remote-controlled and artificial intelligence-guided equipment, with Israeli media reporting that a one-tonne gun was smuggled into Iran in pieces by Mossad and mounted on the back of a pick-up truck, which exploded after Fakhrizadeh was killed. Iran executed three men on Wednesday morning in the northwestern province of West Azerbaijan, accused of being involved in Fakhrizadeh's death and other assassinations. Israel also appears to have used a large number of explosives-laden small drones and quadcopters during the 12-day war to overwhelm Iranian defences as part of its multipronged assault operations. Iranian media reported throughout the war that air defences across the country were activated to counter the small drones, as well as larger military-grade counterparts like the Hermes 900, several of which Iran claimed to have shot down. However, the exact number of drones launched and how successful they were in hitting their targets cannot be corroborated by Al Jazeera. The smaller drones attracted a lot of attention and forced authorities to muster large-scale search operations to neutralise them, as Israeli warplanes dropped more bombs across the country and US President Donald Trump briefly rhetorically backed the possibility of regime change. Soon, authorities found pick-up trucks with customised cargo beds that were made to accommodate small, pre-programmed drones that they said could be driven close to their intended targets before launching. Such a strategy has been used successfully elsewhere as well, including at the start of June when Ukraine managed to destroy as much as a third of Russia's strategic bomber fleet on the tarmac of four airfields deep inside Russian territory. Iranian authorities organised search parties, particularly at night, consisting of security forces who patrolled the streets on motorcycles or vehicles to look for any suspicious trucks or movement. Armed and masked security forces also set up countless roadblocks and checkpoints in sprawling Tehran and across the country, including in northern provinces where millions travelled after fleeing the capital, which typically stopped and searched pick-up trucks with covered cargo beds. After what the Israelis said were years of preparations, their operatives appear to have been able to set up small production lines of the unmanned vehicles inside Iran. One such operation was discovered in Shahr-e Rey in southern Tehran, where state media said a three-storey building was dedicated to churning out drones, homemade bombs and a large volume of explosives. State television also showed another similar operation, in which six Iranian 'Mossad agents' were assembling quadcopters with small bombs attached under them, as well as bombs with timers, grenades and other weapons. There were also reports of vehicles planted with explosives, but there was no official confirmation by Iranian authorities. Some of the arrested suspects were shown confessing on state television with their hands bound and their eyes covered. Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohsen-Ejei and Tehran's public prosecutor Ali Salehi personally interrogated one unnamed suspect on state television, who said he tried to film air defences for the Mossad from rooftops. The Israeli military's chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, confirmed in a video statement on Wednesday that commando forces 'operated covertly deep in enemy territory and carried out operations that granted us operational freedom of action'. He did not say whether he was referring to the commandos shown at the start of the operation on the first night or other potential operations. Iranian officials have not directly commented on claimed Israeli commando operations from inside Iranian territory. But authorities continue to announce dozens of arrests across Iran in relation to collaboration with Israel and the US, and have so far executed at least six people accused of collaborating since the start of the war. Israeli intelligence operations inside Iran are believed to have been a major contributor to the success of the June 13 surprise attacks that started the war, which killed a large number of top military commanders and nuclear scientists while also incapacitating some air defences and hitting missile launch sites in an effort to limit Iran's retaliation. Huge cyberattacks launched by pro-Israel hacking groups also temporarily took down two of the country's biggest banks, as well as the country's largest cryptocurrency exchange. An undated video circulated by state-linked media this week showed Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the assassinated head of the critical aerospace division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), saying during a speech that 'we are all under surveillance' by Mossad through mobile phones and other communications devices. Hajizadeh, who was killed while holding a meeting with a host of other top aerospace commanders in an underground bunker in or around Tehran, urged others to exercise caution and turn off and periodically replace their mobile phones during the speech. As part of their response to the Israeli offensive, Iranian authorities also cut off internet access, at one point choking off 97 percent of the massive country's connectivity, according to NetBlocks internet observatory. It was one of the most comprehensive internet blackouts ever imposed in Iran – and likely anywhere else in the world. The restrictions imposed during the war were mostly lifted by Thursday, two days after a ceasefire announced by Trump took effect.
Al Jazeera
3 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
How Israel launched attacks from inside Iran to sow chaos during war
Gilan, Iran – The Israeli military used hundreds of fighter jets, armed drones and refuelling planes to attack Iran during its 12-day war backed by the United States, but it was also heavily assisted by operations launched from deep within Iranian soil. Just hours after the Israeli army and Mossad spy agency started their attacks before dawn on June 13, they released footage that appeared to have been recorded at night from undisclosed locations inside Iran. One grainy video showed Mossad operatives, camouflaged and wearing tactical gear including night-vision goggles, crouched in what looked like desert terrain, deploying weapons that aimed to destroy Iran's air defence systems to help pave the way for incoming attack aircraft. Others showed projectiles, with mounted cameras, descending to slam into Iranian missile defence batteries, as well as ballistic missile platforms. The projectiles appeared to be Spike missiles – relatively small, precision-guided anti-armour missiles that can be programmed to fly to targets that are out of their line of sight. Iranian authorities also confirmed the use of the weapons, with state media showing images of remnants of customised Spike missile launchers that were discovered in one open area. They said the weapons were equipped with 'internet-based automation and remote-controlled systems' and were operated by 'terrorist Mossad agents'. The move partly echoed an Israeli operation in November 2020 that killed Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a senior figure in Iran's nuclear programme, who was gunned down in a city near Tehran while moving in a vehicle with his wife and bodyguards. Iranian authorities at the time confirmed that the assassination was carried out using remote-controlled and artificial intelligence-guided equipment, with Israeli media reporting that a one-tonne gun was smuggled into Iran in pieces by Mossad and mounted on the back of a pick-up truck, which exploded after Fakhrizadeh was killed. Iran executed three men on Wednesday morning in the northwestern province of West Azerbaijan, accused of being involved in Fakhrizadeh's death and other assassinations. Drone manufacturing inside Iran Israel also appears to have used a large number of explosives-laden small drones and quadcopters during the 12-day war to overwhelm Iranian defences as part of its multipronged assault operations. Iranian media reported throughout the war that air defences across the country were activated to counter the small drones, as well as larger military-grade counterparts like the Hermes 900, several of which Iran claimed to have shot down. However, the exact number of drones launched and how successful they were in hitting their targets cannot be corroborated by Al Jazeera. The smaller drones attracted a lot of attention and forced authorities to muster large-scale search operations to neutralise them, as Israeli warplanes dropped more bombs across the country and US President Donald Trump briefly rhetorically backed the possibility of regime change. Soon, authorities found pick-up trucks with customised cargo beds that were made to accommodate small, pre-programmed drones that they said could be driven close to their intended targets before launching. Such a strategy has been used successfully elsewhere as well, including at the start of June when Ukraine managed to destroy as much as a third of Russia's strategic bomber fleet on the tarmac of four airfields deep inside Russian territory. Iranian authorities organised search parties, particularly at night, consisting of security forces who patrolled the streets on motorcycles or vehicles to look for any suspicious trucks or movement. Armed and masked security forces also set up countless roadblocks and checkpoints in sprawling Tehran and across the country, including in northern provinces where millions travelled after fleeing the capital, which typically stopped and searched pick-up trucks with covered cargo beds. After what the Israelis said were years of preparations, their operatives appear to have been able to set up small production lines of the unmanned vehicles inside Iran. One such operation was discovered in Shahr-e Rey in southern Tehran, where state media said a three-storey building was dedicated to churning out drones, homemade bombs and a large volume of explosives. Security forces located a clandestine drone-manufacturing site in Shahr-e Rey, south of three floors building, was used by Israeli agents to assemble and store UAVs intended for terrorists also found homemade bombs and over 200 kg of explosives. — Tasnim News Agency (@Tasnimnews_EN) June 15, 2025 State television also showed another similar operation, in which six Iranian 'Mossad agents' were assembling quadcopters with small bombs attached under them, as well as bombs with timers, grenades and other weapons. There were also reports of vehicles planted with explosives, but there was no official confirmation by Iranian authorities. Some of the arrested suspects were shown confessing on state television with their hands bound and their eyes covered. Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohsen-Ejei and Tehran's public prosecutor Ali Salehi personally interrogated one unnamed suspect on state television, who said he tried to film air defences for the Mossad from rooftops. 'We are all under surveillance' The Israeli military's chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, confirmed in a video statement on Wednesday that commando forces 'operated covertly deep in enemy territory and carried out operations that granted us operational freedom of action'. He did not say whether he was referring to the commandos shown at the start of the operation on the first night or other potential operations. Iranian officials have not directly commented on claimed Israeli commando operations from inside Iranian territory. But authorities continue to announce dozens of arrests across Iran in relation to collaboration with Israel and the US, and have so far executed at least six people accused of collaborating since the start of the war. Israeli intelligence operations inside Iran are believed to have been a major contributor to the success of the June 13 surprise attacks that started the war, which killed a large number of top military commanders and nuclear scientists while also incapacitating some air defences and hitting missile launch sites in an effort to limit Iran's retaliation. Huge cyberattacks launched by pro-Israel hacking groups also temporarily took down two of the country's biggest banks, as well as the country's largest cryptocurrency exchange. An undated video circulated by state-linked media this week showed Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the assassinated head of the critical aerospace division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), saying during a speech that 'we are all under surveillance' by Mossad through mobile phones and other communications devices. Hajizadeh, who was killed while holding a meeting with a host of other top aerospace commanders in an underground bunker in or around Tehran, urged others to exercise caution and turn off and periodically replace their mobile phones during the speech. As part of their response to the Israeli offensive, Iranian authorities also cut off internet access, at one point choking off 97 percent of the massive country's connectivity, according to NetBlocks internet observatory. It was one of the most comprehensive internet blackouts ever imposed in Iran – and likely anywhere else in the world. The restrictions imposed during the war were mostly lifted by Thursday, two days after a ceasefire announced by Trump took effect.
Al Jazeera
3 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
How Israel launched attacks from inside Iran to sow chaos during the war
Gilan, Iran – The Israeli military used hundreds of fighter jets, armed drones and refuelling planes to attack Iran during its 12-day war backed by the United States, but it was also heavily assisted by operations launched from deep within Iranian soil. Just hours after the Israeli army and Mossad spy agency started their attacks before dawn on June 13, they released footage that appeared to have been recorded at night from undisclosed locations inside Iran. One grainy video showed Mossad operatives, camouflaged and wearing tactical gear including night-vision goggles, crouched in what looked like desert terrain, deploying weapons that aimed to destroy Iran's air defence systems to help pave the way for incoming attack aircraft. Others showed projectiles, with mounted cameras, descending to slam into Iranian missile defence batteries, as well as ballistic missile platforms. The projectiles appeared to be Spike missiles – relatively small, precision-guided anti-armour missiles that can be programmed to fly to targets that are out of their line of sight. Iranian authorities also confirmed the use of the weapons, with state media showing images of remnants of customised Spike missile launchers that were discovered in one open area. They said the weapons were equipped with 'internet-based automation and remote-controlled systems' and were operated by 'terrorist Mossad agents'. The move partly echoed an Israeli operation in November 2020 that killed Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a senior figure in Iran's nuclear programme, who was gunned down in a city near Tehran while moving in a vehicle with his wife and bodyguards. Iranian authorities at the time confirmed that the assassination was carried out using remote-controlled and artificial intelligence-guided equipment, with Israeli media reporting that a one-tonne gun was smuggled into Iran in pieces by Mossad and mounted on the back of a pick-up truck, which exploded after Fakhrizadeh was killed. Iran executed three men on Wednesday morning in the northwestern province of West Azerbaijan, accused of being involved in Fakhrizadeh's death and other assassinations. Drone manufacturing inside Iran Israel also appears to have used a large number of explosives-laden small drones and quadcopters during the 12-day war to overwhelm Iranian defences as part of its multipronged assault operations. Iranian media reported throughout the war that air defences across the country were activated to counter the small drones, as well as larger military-grade counterparts like the Hermes 900, several of which Iran claimed to have shot down. However, the exact number of drones launched and how successful they were in hitting their targets cannot be corroborated by Al Jazeera. The smaller drones attracted a lot of attention and forced authorities to muster large-scale search operations to neutralise them, as Israeli warplanes dropped more bombs across the country and US President Donald Trump briefly rhetorically backed the possibility of regime change. Soon, authorities found pick-up trucks with customised cargo beds that were made to accommodate small, pre-programmed drones that they said could be driven close to their intended targets before launching. Such a strategy has been used successfully elsewhere as well, including at the start of June when Ukraine managed to destroy as much as a third of Russia's strategic bomber fleet on the tarmac of four airfields deep inside Russian territory. Iranian authorities organised search parties, particularly at night, consisting of security forces who patrolled the streets on motorcycles or vehicles to look for any suspicious trucks or movement. Armed and masked security forces also set up countless roadblocks and checkpoints in sprawling Tehran and across the country, including in northern provinces where millions travelled after fleeing the capital, which typically stopped and searched pick-up trucks with covered cargo beds. After what the Israelis said were years of preparations, their operatives appear to have been able to set up small production lines of the unmanned vehicles inside Iran. One such operation was discovered in Shahr-e Rey in southern Tehran, where state media said a three-storey building was dedicated to churning out drones, homemade bombs and a large volume of explosives. Security forces located a clandestine drone-manufacturing site in Shahr-e Rey, south of three floors building, was used by Israeli agents to assemble and store UAVs intended for terrorists also found homemade bombs and over 200 kg of explosives. — Tasnim News Agency (@Tasnimnews_EN) June 15, 2025 State television also showed another similar operation, in which six Iranian 'Mossad agents' were assembling quadcopters with small bombs attached under them, as well as bombs with timers, grenades and other weapons. There were also reports of vehicles planted with explosives, but there was no official confirmation by Iranian authorities. Some of the arrested suspects were shown confessing on state television with their hands bound and their eyes covered. Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohsen-Ejei and Tehran's public prosecutor Ali Salehi personally interrogated one unnamed suspect on state television, who said he tried to film air defences for the Mossad from rooftops. 'We are all under surveillance' The Israeli military's chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, confirmed in a video statement on Wednesday that commando forces 'operated covertly deep in enemy territory and carried out operations that granted us operational freedom of action'. He did not say whether he was referring to the commandos shown at the start of the operation on the first night or other potential operations. Iranian officials have not directly commented on claimed Israeli commando operations from inside Iranian territory. But authorities continue to announce dozens of arrests across Iran in relation to collaboration with Israel and the US, and have so far executed at least six people accused of collaborating since the start of the war. Israeli intelligence operations inside Iran are believed to have been a major contributor to the success of the June 13 surprise attacks that started the war, which killed a large number of top military commanders and nuclear scientists while also incapacitating some air defences and hitting missile launch sites in an effort to limit Iran's retaliation. Huge cyberattacks launched by pro-Israel hacking groups also temporarily took down two of the country's biggest banks, as well as the country's largest cryptocurrency exchange. An undated video circulated by state-linked media this week showed Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the assassinated head of the critical aerospace division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), saying during a speech that 'we are all under surveillance' by Mossad through mobile phones and other communications devices. Hajizadeh, who was killed while holding a meeting with a host of other top aerospace commanders in an underground bunker in or around Tehran, urged others to exercise caution and turn off and periodically replace their mobile phones during the speech. As part of their response to the Israeli offensive, Iranian authorities also cut off internet access, at one point choking off 97 percent of the massive country's connectivity, according to NetBlocks internet observatory. It was one of the most comprehensive internet blackouts ever imposed in Iran – and likely anywhere else in the world. The restrictions imposed during the war were mostly lifted by Thursday, two days after a ceasefire announced by Trump took effect.
NDTV
18-06-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
Iran's 'Oppenheimer' Silenced: Inside Top Nuclear Scientist's Murder
New Delhi: When Israeli missiles rained on Iran's nuclear facilities this month, Fereidoun Abbasi, the former head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, was among the high-profile casualties. He once laughed off fears of assassination and famously said he would "gladly build nuclear weapons if asked." He survived a targeted killing in 2010. This time, he did not. But for many in Iran and beyond, his death reopened an old scar. It pulled the world's attention back to the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran's top nuclear scientist. The Phantom Scientist For years, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was little more than a name in classified reports. Western intelligence believed he was the mastermind behind "Project Amad," Iran's covert effort to build a nuclear bomb in the early 2000s. In public, he was invisible. No speeches, no interviews and almost no photos. He was even referred to as Iran's Robert Oppenheimer. So shadowy was his presence that even when the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was signed, his name was too radioactive to mention. He was referred to as the "father of Iran's nuclear programme" by Western intelligence agencies and Israeli officials. In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flashed Fakhrizadeh's name on national TV during a dramatic reveal of stolen Iranian nuclear files. "Remember that name," he said. For anyone paying attention, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh had a target on his back. The Assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh On November 27, 2020, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was travelling with his wife and bodyguards toward their villa in the town of Absard, east of Tehran. It was a familiar drive, routine, even. A convoy followed at a distance. Waiting by the roadside was a pickup truck, seemingly abandoned. Hidden within it, was a 7.62 mm FN MAG machine gun, rigged with facial recognition AI, satellite links, and explosives. No agents were on the ground. According to Iranian officials, the weapon was linked via satellite to its operators, believed to be Israeli agents outside the country. As the convoy slowed near a speed bump, a stray dog crossed the road. Just then, the machine gun fired a burst of bullets, hitting the front of Fakhrizadeh's car below the windshield. The car swerved and came to a stop. A second round of fire shattered the windshield, hitting Fakhrizadeh at least once in the shoulder. He got out and took cover behind the car door. Moments later, three more bullets hit his spine, and he collapsed on the road. His wife, beside him, was left untouched. Fifteen bullets were fired. The entire operation lasted less than a minute. Seconds later, the truck exploded, the only part of the plan that failed. It was supposed to destroy all traces of the robotic weapon, but much of the equipment landed back on the ground, badly damaged but largely intact. Iranian officials were stunned. The gun had been fired remotely, from outside the country. It was an assassination carried out by a robot sniper. Israel's Invisible Hand The entire operation, from surveillance to execution, had the signature of Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence agency. Though Israel never officially claimed responsibility, former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen later hinted at Israeli involvement, calling Fakhrizadeh a legitimate target. According to later reports, Mossad agents had tracked Mohsen Fakhrizadeh for months. The equipment was smuggled into Iran in pieces, assembled in-country, and tested in secret. It was perhaps the most advanced targeted killing in history. According to Brigadier General Ali Fadavi of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the weapon targeted Mohsen Fakhrizadeh with 'such precision' that it struck only him while leaving his wife and guards unharmed. The event also hardened Iran's position internationally. Talks with the US and European powers stalled. The regime accelerated uranium enrichment. And within Iran, hardliners gained momentum. The hopes of nuclear diplomacy also took a hit.
