The head of the Center for Research and Innovation of the Iranian Defense Ministry, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was killed in the vicinity of Tehran. US President Donald Trump retweeted a post by Israeli journalist Yossi Melman, which said the Mossad had long been hunting Fakhrizadeh. Israel systematically assassinates Iranian nuclear physicists: the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh has become the fifth such case in ten years. Does Israel have reason to fear Iranian nuclear weapons?
Why can't Iran keep its scientific potential? Back in the early 2000s, Iranian opposition group Mujahiddin-e Khalq started publishing names and addresses of famous nuclear physicists on the Internet. In 2008, Fakhrizadeh was put on UN and US sanctions lists as the architect of the "Iranian nuclear technology." Why wasn't he classified? Did it cause an internal split inside the country? Are there traitors at security services or state bodies?
Pravda.Ru asked these and other questions to Tofik Abbasov, a political scientist, expert on the Middle East.
Nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was known as the father of the Iranian nuclear bomb, which does not even actually exist, as it is believed. The scientist was killed, but no one knows whether Iran has a nuclear bomb. This has been the fifth attempt on the life of Iranian scientists in the past ten years, and only one of them managed to survive. According to Iranian officials, there is a hand of Israel in all of those assassinations. Do Iranian special services work at all? Why does Iran let its brightest minds be shot in broad daylight? Iran is a closed country. Why can't Iran protect its best scientists?
In fact, Iran is not a closed country, it is an open one - it is not like China or North Korea. Iran actively supports communication with the external environment. A great deal of Iranian nationals reside in Western Europe, the United States of America, the Middle East and in many other countries. The state does not interfere with the movement of its fellow citizens.
There is a large Jewish community in Iran, and member of this community can travel freely too. They only must indicate the exact travel route if they want to travel outside Iran to their historical homeland, but there are no prohibitions. In this respect, I would say, Iran compares favorably with other closed states. On the other hand, this openness allows hostile forces to use these channels. Indeed, the potential to undermine the international image of the Islamic Republic is enormous.
Washington's long-standing dream is to surround Iran with hostile states and create an alliance between Israel and Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf based on anti-Iranian sentiments. This plan has now worked. Benjamin Netanyahu has recently paid a private visit to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is de facto the leader of the anti-Iranian coalition, and Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who runs the show there, is happy to support Israel's and USA's anti-Iranian initiatives. Iran's neighbor, the United Arab Emirates, has condemned the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Fakhrizadeh. This is no coincidence. Abu Dhabi is also building relations with Israel, but fears Iran still. A certain part of the population of this country is of Iranian origin. They are not exactly Arabs, they are of Persian origin. They have their influence, so Iran also has its influence in neighboring states.
One can not say that Iran allows anyone to kill its nuclear scientists. Yet, they use many factors against Iran, such as technology, intelligence and cybersecurity. Strange events have taken place at military facilities of Iran during the recent years: explosions have become more frequent, cyber interventions have interrupted the work of many research programs. The fifth column inside the country does not sleep.
The Mossad is a very strong intelligence service indeed that has extensive financial, technological, electronic and other capabilities. Of course, Iranian special services must draw appropriate conclusions, because Iran's openness, which favorably distinguishes it from, say, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and other neighboring states, already works to the detriment of this country. An undeclared terrorist war is being waged against Iran, and this war is primarily fuelled by Washington and the Middle East.