Iran: We Know Who Killed Our Nuclear Scientist

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says revenge will come
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 28, 2020 12:21 PM CST
Iran Lays Blame in Killing of Scientist
A group of protesters burn pictures of the US President Trump, top, and the President-elect Joe Biden in a gathering in front of Iranian Foreign Ministry on Saturday, Nov. 28, 2020.   (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iran's supreme leader on Saturday demanded the "definitive punishment" of those behind the killing of a scientist who led Tehran's disbanded military nuclear program, as the Islamic Republic blamed Israel for a slaying that has raised fears of reignited tensions across the Middle East, the AP reports. After years of being in the shadows, the image of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh suddenly was to be seen everywhere in Iranian media, as his widow spoke on state television and officials publicly demanded revenge on Israel for the scientist's slaying. Israel, long suspected of killing Iranian scientists a decade ago amid earlier tensions over Tehran's nuclear program, has yet to comment on Fakhrizadeh's killing Friday.

However, the attack bore the hallmarks of a carefully planned, military-style ambush, the likes of which Israel has been accused of conducting before. The attack has renewed fears of Iran striking back against the US, Israel's closest ally in the region, as it did earlier this year when a US drone strike killed a top Iranian general. The US military acknowledged moving an aircraft carrier back into the region, while an Iranian lawmaker suggested throwing out UN nuclear inspectors in response to the killing. In Tehran, a small group of hard-line protesters burned images of President Trump and President-elect Joe Biden, who has said his administration will consider reentering Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers. They also burned a US and an Israeli flag.

(More Iran stories.)

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