Iran vows retaliation after top nuclear scientist shot dead near Tehran - Page 2 - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#15140302
Hitting a person with a remote controlled machine gun mounted on the back of a pickup at a distance of 150 meters requires some very advanced robotic remote control. This is not a suicide attack conducted by a terrorist cell. This is the handy-work of a foreign intelligence agency using the most advanced technology to spare the lives of its operatives.

The possible choice of culprit is between Israel, the US or the KSA, or two or more in conjunction.

Iran's top nuclear scientist was assassinated by a remote-controlled machine gun placed in the back of another car, the country's media says

Iran's top nuclear scientist was killed with a remote-controlled machine gun, the country's semiofficial Fars news agency reported.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was seen as the father of Iran's nuclear program, was killed while driving with his wife and security convoy near Tehran on Friday.

Fars said the gun was mounted on the back of a Nissan truck that self-destructed after a three-minute attack. Iran has blamed Israel.

Ali Shamkhani, Iran's top national security official, on Monday said the hit was "conducted using electronic equipment and there was nobody on the scene," suggesting the weapon was remote-controlled.

Iran's foremost nuclear scientist was killed by a remote-controlled machine gun mounted atop a truck, the country's semiofficial Fars news agency says.

On Friday, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated while driving with his wife and security convoy in the Iranian city of Absard, near Tehran. The Iranian defense ministry has given few details of the killing but has pointed the finger at Israel.

New information about the attack was reported Sunday, however, with Fars saying Fakhrizadeh stopped and left his car after mistaking several bullets that had just hit his vehicle for engine trouble.

At this point, Fars said, a Nissan pickup truck stopped 150 meters, or about 492 feet, from Fakhrizadeh, and a gun mounted on the back of the truck opened fire, hitting him twice in the back and once in the spine.

Three security cars had been traveling with Fakhrizadeh, and a bodyguard who launched himself over the scientist's body was also shot, Fars reported.

Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami gave a speech during Fakhrizadeh's funeral ceremony on Monday. Iranian Defense Ministry/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

According to Fars, after the hit on Fakhrizadeh was complete, the Nissan truck exploded. The entire attack lasted three minutes, the news agency reported.

Investigations have indicated the registered owner of the Nisan left Iran on Sunday, Fars reported, without citing the person's identity.

On Monday, the day of Fakhrizadeh's funeral, Iran's top national security official, Ali Shamkhani, told reporters the assassination was "conducted using electronic equipment and there was nobody on the scene," according to BBC Monitoring's Kian Sharifi.

Iran has blamed Israel for the attack, with Shamkhani saying on Monday that the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, a militant group that opposes the Iranian government, was also involved.

Another popular narrative about the killing circulating in Iranian media is that Fakhrizadeh was killed by a team of 12 assassins who were part of a 62-person hit squad.


John Brennan, a former CIA chief call the attack criminal and said that it had the potential to destabilize the ME.



I wouldn't be surprised if Trump were to brag about having ordered the assassination to throw a spanner into the diplomatic works after he leaves the WH.
#15140308
Just curious @Atlantis why do you think this would harm diplomatic relations?

And if it did harm them, what is Iran going to do? Threaten to build nuclear weapons? They have been doing that for years. I think that this message to Iran, regardless of who did it, puts them on warning in a way less dramatic than bombing their nuclear facilities.

Do not forget that this is the second one of these deals. The US got Major General Qasem Soleimani not long ago. Granted that was not in Iran but it seems to me that "someone" is ratcheting up the pressure on Iran. That or the two are completely unrelated. What do you think?
#15140310
@Drlee, it's obvious that Trump tries to torpedo future negotiations between the Biden administration and Tehran. This is a clear provocation aimed at trying to trigger a response from Iran. If Iran were to respond by any revenge action, it would make future talks harder.

We can only hope that the Mullahs show more restraint than the US president.

Incidentally, contrary to the article I quoted above, it seems that there was another vehicle with gunmen at the scene who fired on the scientist after the remote-controlled machine gun had been activated.

I think there can be no doubt that this is the handy-work of Mossad and that the US gave the all clear. It wouldn't be the first time either.
#15140311
Drlee wrote:Just curious [usermention=39801]

@Atlantis[/usermention] why do you think this would harm diplomatic relations?

And if it did harm them, what is Iran going to do? Threaten to build nuclear weapons? They have been doing that for years. I think that this message to Iran, regardless of who did it, puts them on warning in a way less dramatic than bombing their nuclear facilities.

Do not forget that this is the second one of these deals. The US got Major General Qasem Soleimani not long ago. Granted that was not in Iran but it seems to me that "someone" is ratcheting up the pressure on Iran. That or the two are completely unrelated. What do you think?



Biden has made no secret of wanting to restart the JCPOA... And Iran would want compensation for being screwed, but they would benefit enormously from it.

Israel and the American crazies want war. They've been trying to get us to fight Iran since Saddam died. So what they are trying to do is piss off Iran enough that they won't restart the nuke deal.

Dear Israel, friends don't screw friends over on a regular basis.
#15140328
So, Netanyahu wanted an airstrike on Iran before Trump leaves the WH. But since the Saudis didn't go along, they settled on the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh instead.

The Saudis are much more reluctant about attacking Iran than the Trump administration and Israel because they know that Iran can easily hit Saudi oil infrastructure.

The Saudis also opposed to the US invasion of Iraq.

Saudi crown prince was reluctant to back US attack on Iran

Israel's Netanyahu called for strikes on uranium facilities during Neom meeting with 'very nervous' Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi sources say

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was reluctant to accede to demands from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to an attack on Iran when they met last Sunday in Neom, Saudi sources with knowledge of the meeting told Middle East Eye.

Bin Salman's reluctance was said to be for two reasons. Firstly, he read two recent attacks on Saudi oil targets as warning messages from Iran delivered by proxies.

Secondly, he doubts the US response under President-elect Joe Biden's incoming administration, in the event of a prolonged series of strikes and counter strikes, believing Biden's first response to a Gulf crisis would be to de-escalate before negotiating a nuclear deal with Tehran.


In last Sunday's tripartite meeting, the outgoing US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did not commit to an attack on Iran's uranium processing installations, a Saudi source with knowledge of the meeting told MEE.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said: "In the meeting, Netanyahu was advocating hitting Iran. Pompeo did not commit either way."

In Riyadh, the threat of a US attack on Iranian uranium enrichment facilities is still very much live, despite signs that outgoing US President Donald Trump at last appears willing to concede that he lost the election.

In recent weeks, two B52 bombers practised a sortie from a base in North Dakota over the Gulf, involving other US combat and refuelling aircraft.

Acting Secretary of Defence Christopher Miller is currently on another trip to the Gulf, visiting US airbases in Bahrain and Qatar, ostensibly to wish US servicemen well over Thanksgiving.

The Saudi source said the latest attacks on sites in the kingdom were clearly proxy messages from Iran.

The two most recent attacks on Saudi oil installations are a strike by a Quds 2 missile launched by Iran-backed Houthis on an oil tank at Aramco's plant in north Jeddah, and a limpet mine attack on a Greek-owned tanker in the Red Sea port of Shuqaiq.

The missile strike in north Jeddah was the largest scale assault on an Aramco installation since drone strikes hit Abqaiq and Khurais, halving the kingdom's oil production for a few months in 2019.

Riyadh officially denied that last Sunday's meeting took place after details were first reported by Israel's Haaretz newspaper.

"No such meeting occurred," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud tweeted.

A US State Department statement about Pompeo's meeting with the crown prince in Neom did not mention Netanyahu.

"They discussed the need for Gulf unity to counter Iran's aggressive behaviour in the region and the need to achieve a political solution to the conflict in Yemen," it said.

Netanyahu's office has not commented on the meeting, but Israeli Minister of Defence Benny Gantz said: "The leaking of the secret flight of the prime minister to Saudi Arabia is an irresponsible step."

Netanyahu's visit, on which he was accompanied by Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, marked the first known high-level meeting between an Israeli and a Saudi leader, though the two are reported to have met privately in the past.

Messages from Tehran
The Iranian "messages" to Riyadh conveyed by the attacks on oil facilities are part and parcel of a broader communications offensive by Iran.

Last week, MEE reported that Iran had dispatched one of its top generals to Baghdad to order allied Iraqi factions to cease all attacks until Biden is in the White House.

Brigadier-General Esmail Qaani was explicit in his instructions to paramilitary leaders on Wednesday.

"Qaani made it clear that Trump wants to drag the region into an open war before leaving, to take revenge on his opponents over losing the election, and it is not in our interest to give him any justification to start such a war," a senior commander of a Shia armed faction, who was among those briefed about what was said at the meeting, told MEE.

According to MEE's sources, Iran believes an attack order by Trump is still an imminent threat.

"They are telling Saudi that you will pay the price for anything that happens to us. MBS knows that if Trump attacks the Iranians, Saudi will not get US protection from Biden," a source said.

"He is now reluctant for such a thing to happen under Trump. That was clear in the meeting."

The sources, who have direct knowledge of the events in the Saudi royal court, described the crown prince as "anxious and very nervous".

"MBS is living his worst days since he became crown prince. His main concern is Biden. He feels this administration will be hostile to him, and with the world not forgetting all that he has done, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the imprisonment and mistreatment of women activists, he really does not know what to do," a second source said.


What has the world come to? Now we have to be grateful to the Saudis for preventing Trump/Netanyahu from starting another war in the ME.
#15140336
late wrote:Biden has made no secret of wanting to restart the JCPOA... And Iran would want compensation for being screwed, but they would benefit enormously from it.

Israel and the American crazies want war. They've been trying to get us to fight Iran since Saddam died. So what they are trying to do is piss off Iran enough that they won't restart the nuke deal.

Dear Israel, friends don't screw friends over on a regular basis.


''Friends'' like that aren't really friends at all. Is going to war with Iran or any of these other countries truly in the American national interest? Absolutely not. But, President Trump was the ''King of Israel'' and all.... :roll:

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