Assassination

On Friday, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Mahabadi, a brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a senior official in the nuclear program of Iran, was assassinated while traveling in a vehicle on a rural road in Absard, a city near Tehran. A truck carrying explosives hidden beneath a load of wood detonated near Fakhrizadeh’s car. A second vehicle was destroyed with a bomb after which Fakhrizadeh’s bodyguards clashed with gunmen, three of them being kille in the confrontation. 

Iran Accuses Israel

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, suggested that Israel was behind the slaying of his country’s top nuclear scientist—and called it an act of “desperate warmongering”. Brig. Gen. Esmail Ghaani, Commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, blamed Israel, promising retribution. 

“The enemy (Israel) does not dare to wage war against Iran like men, but the end of Israel is approaching … This assassination is one of the desperate attempts of the arrogant international thieves,” said Ghaani, according to the IRNA news agency.

Soros-Funded J-Street: Iran Nuclear Deal More Important Than Stopping Iranian Nukes

Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, a Soros-funded left-wing extremist anti-Israel group that claims to have ties to Jewish people, issued a statement similar to those released by the Iranian leaders, condemning the assassination of the nuclear weapons head.

“The assassination of a senior Iranian nuclear scientist appears to be an attempt to sabotage the ability of the incoming Biden administration to re-enter the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)”, Ben-Ami wrote, “as well as the chances of further diplomacy, either by limiting the political leeway of Iranian officials who want to restore the deal, or by triggering an escalation leading to military confrontation”.

“Those who oppose the JCPOA will stop at nothing to kill the agreement once and for all, despite repeatedly being proven wrong about the deal’s success in blocking Iran’s paths to a nuclear weapon and the disastrous consequences of Donald Trump’s violation of the pact”.

It should be noted that the JCPOA, commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, required Iran to limit its nuclear program to strictly peace-oriented goals. It seems unclear how Iran why such a peace-oriented program would be headed by a brigadier general in a combat branch of the Iranian army. 

“The facts speak for themselves”, Ben-Ami continues, “Iran now has twelve times as much enriched uranium as when Trump took office. Its forces have openly launched missiles at US troops. The Iranian people — suffering cruel sanctions in the midst of a pandemic — blame the United States rather than their own government’s hardliners for their predicament”.

“We call on Congress to make clear that it supports diplomacy as the primary means to address threats emanating from Iran”, Ben-Ami concludes, “beginning with the restoration of the JCPOA. We call on our allies around the world to seek calm and refrain from any actions that would further escalate tensions. We call on the Iranian government not to respond to the provocation of the assassination, and exercise restraint in anticipation of responsible, competent American leadership again being in place”.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have both committed to reinstating the JCPOA which would put a nuclear weapon in the Iranian arsenal in less than five years. 

Hamas-EU-Sanders Agree With J-Street

In a statement, Hamas said the assassination was an attempt to prevent the Islamic Iran from obtaining means of progress and scientific power so that they remain “in the hands of the Zionist occupation and its expansionist settlement enterprise which is intended against the entire Islamic nation.”

It should be noted that J Street also refers to Israel as “the occupation.”

Like Hamas, the European Union condemned the killing while offering condolences. 

“This is a criminal act and runs counter to the principle of respect for human rights the EU stands for,” an EU Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said in a statement.

The killing of the Iranian nuclear weapons general was also condemned by Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vt) via Twitter. 

“The assassination of Mohsen Fakhri Zadeh was reckless, provocative, and illegal”, Sanders wrote. “As a new administration takes power, it was clearly intended to undermine US-Iran diplomacy. We must not allow that to happen. Diplomacy, not murder, is the best path forward.”

It is to be assumed that Sanders, who was born Jewish, was referring to the murder of the Iranian general and not the intended victims of his nuclear endeavors. 

Obama’s CIA Drone Chief Claims Iranian Nuke General Worse than Killing Civilians

Former CIA director John Brennan criticized the killing in similar words. 

“This was a criminal act & highly reckless. It risks lethal retaliation & a new round of regional conflict,” Brennan wrote in a tweet. “Iranian leaders would be wise to wait for the return of responsible American leadership on the global stage & to resist the urge to respond against perceived culprits.”

Brennan claimed there was a moral distinction between the killing of the Iranian general and similar murders carried out under the Obama adminstration. 

“These assassinations are far different than strikes against terrorist leaders & operatives of groups like al-Qaida & Islamic State, which are not sovereign states. As illegitimate combatants under international law, they can be targeted in order to stop deadly terrorist attacks.”

In June 2011, Brennan lied to the press, claiming that the drone strikes he conducted at the order of President Obama did not result in “a single collateral death.”  It was later discovered that at least 76 civilians including eight children and two women were known to have been killed by CIA drones in ten strikes between August 2010 and June 2011.

Brennan had his security clearance revoked in 2018 by the Trump administration. Brennan is currently under scrutiny in an investigation being carried out by the Department of Justice for his role in the origins of the FBI Crossfire Hurricane investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections which involved the wiretapping of the Trump campaign.