Assassination of Iran Nuclear Scientist Met With Calls for Revenge, Restraint

Israeli diplomatic missions and Jewish institutions around the world went on high alert around the world, as international leaders urged Iran to show restraint in the wake of the assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the bombing and shooting attack that killed Fakhrizadeh on Friday, though an unnamed Israeli official reportedly told the New York Times on Saturday that the world should thank Israel for the killing. Analysts have noted that the assassination could be an effort to prevent Iran from resetting its relationship with the United States under President-elect Joe Biden. Biden has said the United States would rejoin the Iran nuclear deal with the major world powers, that President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018. Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has called the deal dangerous and worked actively against it. In 2018, Netanyahu singled out Fakhrizadeh as the mastermind of Iran’s quest to create a nuclear weapon during a news conference in which he presented to the public some 5,000 papers detailing Iran’s nuclear program, which had been stolen and removed from the country by Israeli commandos. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani blamed Israel for the killing saying: “Once again, the evil hands of global arrogance were stained with the blood of the mercenary usurper Zionist regime.” He also said on Saturday that Iran “will answer at the right time.” Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a statement that Iran’s first priority is “definitive punishment of the perpetrators and those who ordered it.” The European Union condemned the killing and urged all parties “to remain calm and exercise maximum restraint.” Several countries, including Germany, also called for Iran to show restraint.