Suspected Iran nuclear mastermind Mohsen Fakhrizadeh assassinated near Tehran

Iranian Supreme Leader’s military adviser blames Israel, vows to strike ‘as thunder’ at the top scientist’s killers

Attackers fired at car carrying Fakhrizadeh and his bodyguards, in an incident that will raise tensions with the US in the last weeks of Trump’s presidency

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Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Photo: Handout via Reuters

Published: 12:29am, 28 Nov 2020Updated: 9:07am, 28 Nov 2020

An Iranian scientist long suspected by the West of masterminding a secret nuclear bomb programme was killed in an ambush near Tehran on Friday that could provoke confrontation between Iran and its foes in the last weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency.

The death of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who Iranian media said died in hospital after armed assassins gunned him down in his car, will also complicate any effort by US President-elect Joe Biden to revive the detente of Barack Obama’s presidency.

Iran pointed the finger at Israel, while implying the killing had the blessing of the departing Trump. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter of “serious indications of (an) Israeli role”.

Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh’s car was fired upon near the capital, Tehran. Photo: IRIB News via AFP

The military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to “strike as thunder at the killers of this oppressed martyr”.

“In the last days of the political life of their … ally (Trump), the Zionists seek to intensify pressure on Iran and create a full-blown war,” Hossein Dehghan tweeted.