Mohsen Fachrisadeh

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Mohsen Fachrisadeh (2020)

Mohsen Fachrisadeh (also Mohsen Fakhrizadeh , Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi ; Persian محسن فخری‌زاده; * 1958 in Qom ; † November 27, 2020 near Absard , Tehran Province ) was an Iranian nuclear physicist , university professor and member of the Revolutionary Guard . He is known as the "father of the Iranian nuclear program " and was most recently head of the research and technological development department in the Iranian Ministry of Defense . At the end of November 2020, he was killed by a targeted attack. Observers see a high probability of the authorship of a foreign intelligence service.

Engagement in the Iranian nuclear program

Fachrisadeh was professor of physics at Imam Hossein University and, as a member of the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), played a key role in the Iranian nuclear program . He joined the Revolutionary Guard in 1979 and remained a member as a scientist. According to some reports, he most recently had the rank of Brigadier General .

In 2007 he was selected as one of several Iranian scientists in nuclear ballistic missile program are active, explicitly in a resolution of the UN Security Council called ( no. 1747 of 2007, Annex I). In this he was a senior scientist of the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics designated (Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, MODAFL) and former head of the Physics Research Center (PHRC) and noted that the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA him earlier in his Wanted to question the role in the PHRC, but Iran refused. He was also briefly mentioned in an IAEA report from 2008. He was one of the few nuclear technology engineers in Iran who the IAEA explicitly mentioned in their documents and who repeatedly submitted requests for questioning to Iran, which Iran always refused. Like other Iranian companies, organizations and officials, Fachrisadeh was imposed with sanctions by the Security Council of the United Nations (Security Council Committee follow-up decision to Resolution No. 1737 of 2006 and No. 1747 of 2007), the freezing of accounts and travel restrictions (Travel notification requirements) . With what little was known about his career, the IAEA saw the charges against him that he was working on nuclear weapons as convincing and consistent. In particular, the fact that he was named in a United Nations Nuclear Watchdog Report in 2011 as a leading person in a follow-up to the military nuclear technology program that, according to Iranian sources, actually ended in 2003 ( Amad project 1999-2003) contributed to this. The American proliferation expert David Albright described it as extremely important in 2011 , even if little is known about it. Fachrisadeh also played a significant role in Iran's later uranium enrichment program.

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented alleged evidence of a military continuation of the Iranian nuclear program (codenamed Project Amad) in a televised address in April 2018, he identified Fachrisadeh as the head of that program by saying that his name should be remembered. Mossad agents had previously stolen 55,000 pages of top-secret documents on the Iranian nuclear and missile program from safes in a secret archive in Iran.

attack

Fachrisadeh's car with bullet holes after the attack

On November 27, 2020, he was seriously injured in an attack near Absard , a small town 50 km east of Tehran , where many mansions of the Iranian upper class are located, and then died in hospital. He was with bodyguards on the road from Absard to Tehran. His car was shot at, with bullets hitting the windshield. During the assassination, a bomb exploded in a vehicle in the immediate vicinity. It is said to have come to an exchange of fire between the assassin and his bodyguards, in which several assassins died.

An attack was carried out on Fachrisadeh as early as 2008 when assassins on motorbikes attached an explosive device to his car. At that time, Fachrisadeh was able to escape the explosion by jumping out of the car.

Reactions

Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif accused Israel of being responsible for the attack. Iranian scientists from the nuclear technology sector were murdered beforehand. For these acts of violence Iran makes the Israeli secret service Mossad responsible (See: operations that are attributed to the Mossad ). In July 2020, a fire broke out at the Natanz nuclear facility , which is used for uranium enrichment and the production of centrifuges, which caused serious damage and was classified as an act of sabotage by Iranian authorities.

Hussein Salami , commander in chief of the IRGC, called for retaliation and punishment for all those behind the attack.

Former CIA director John Brennan condemned the attack as a criminal act.

The attack also sparked heavy criticism within Iran as part of a chain of cases of serious failure of the Revolutionary Guard-controlled counter-espionage and terrorism in Iran within one year, including the January 2020 assassination of General Qasem Soleimani . Fachrisadeh was one of the best-protected people in Iran, about whom hardly anything could be learned in public until the attack on him and no photo was available. Its protection was incumbent on the Revolutionary Guards.

The UN Secretary General António Guterres and the German Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called for prudence and appealed to everyone involved not to do anything that could further escalate the situation. The EU condemned the killing as a criminal offense.

Israeli intelligence minister Eli Cohen denied criticism of the killing of Fachrisadeh as hypocrisy on an Israeli army broadcaster in late November 2020 . Europeans would know about Iran's efforts to get nuclear weapons, but instead of talking about necessary sanctions and making sure the Iranians don't seek them, they would bury their heads in the sand again. He judged the death of Fakrizadeh as positive for the Middle East and the whole world and continued to mean literally: “Israel has made it clear that Iran will not allow nuclear weapons to be obtained. Iran calls for the destruction of Israel, and therefore from our point of view everyone who is actively involved in nuclear armament efforts is death. " Israel had not officially commented on the act and Cohen also followed the official Israeli line on his radio appearance that he I don't know who committed the act.

rating

Observers point to the time of the attack after the previous US President Biden was voted out of office and before the new US President was appointed . The Guardian speculated that Israel may have carried out the attack to destroy any chance of reconciliation between Tehran and the new US administration under new leadership.

Whoever made the decision to commit the assassination “knew very well that he had 55 days left in a US government that views the Iranians as we do; namely as a very serious threat, ”said the former head of the Israeli military intelligence service Amos Yadlin . The Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman also points out that if Israel is behind the killing, a prior arrangement with the US government is likely.

According to the New York Times , Fachrisadeh was the number one target of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.

Web links

Commons : Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Peter Beamont: Mohsen Fakhrizadeh: key figure in Iran's nuclear efforts who avoided limelight , Guardian, November 27, 2020.
  2. ↑ Iran's army threatens "terrible revenge" - UN urges restraint , Spiegel Online, November 28, 2020.
  3. ↑ a b Karin Senz: Murder of a nuclear scientist. Iranian government accuses Israel , tagesschau.de, November 28, 2020.
  4. ↑ Patrick Wintour, Oliver Holmes: Iran vows retaliation after top nuclear scientist shot dead near Tehran . In: The Guardian . November 27, 2020, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed November 28, 2020]).
  5. ↑ UN Security Council, Resolution No. 1747 of 2007 , accessed on November 28, 2011. In Annex I: "Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi (Senior MODAFL scientist and former head of the Physics Research Center (PHRC). The IAEA have asked to interview him about the activities of the PHRC over the period he was head but Iran has refused). "
  6. ↑ a b c Fredrik Dahl: UN nuclear report puts Iran "mystery man" in spotlight , Reuters, November 11, 2011.
  7. ↑ Sanctions Committee - 1737. February 6, 2015, accessed November 28, 2020 .
  8. ^ Mark Fitzpatrick: The Iranian nuclear crisis. Avoiding worst-case outcomes . Routledge for the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Oxford 2008, ISBN 978-0-415-46654-7 ( archive.org [accessed November 28, 2020]).
  9. ↑ Mohsen Fakhrizadeh: Iran blames Israel for killing top scientist , BBC News, November 28, 2020.
  10. ↑ a b c Fakhrizadeh killing: Iran's security apparatus under scrutiny , Deutsche Welle, November 28, 2020
  11. ↑ a b Prominent nuclear scientist dies after an attack. In: Spiegel Online. November 27, 2020, accessed November 28, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Murder of nuclear scientist: Iran accuses Israel. In: tagesschau.de. November 28, 2020, accessed November 28, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Iran: Act of sabotage allegedly caused a fire in a nuclear facility , Zeit Online, August 24, 2020.
  14. ^ Severe revenge for scientist's assassination put on Iran's agenda: IRGC chief. November 28, 2020, accessed on November 29, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Killing of Iranian nuclear researcher: Ex-CIA boss Brennan speaks of a criminal act. In: DLF. November 28, 2020, accessed November 28, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Iran's army threatens “terrible revenge” - UN urges restraint , Spiegel Online, November 28, 2020
  17. ↑ Iran threatens a retaliation after the murder of scientists. In: Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com). November 28, 2020, accessed on November 29, 2020 (German).
  18. ↑ a b Israeli secret service minister: Anyone who upgrades nuclear weapons »is death« , Spiegel Online, November 29, 2020
  19. ↑ Iran vows retaliation after top nuclear scientist shot dead near Tehran. In: Guardian. November 27, 2020, accessed on November 28, 2020 .
  20. ↑ tagesschau.de: Assassination attempt on nuclear scientist: Iranian hardliners seek revenge. Accessed November 30, 2020 .
  21. ↑ tagesschau.de: After the attack in Iran: What traces lead to Israel. Retrieved November 29, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Iran's Top Nuclear Scientist Killed in Ambush, State Media Say. In: The New York Times. November 27, 2020, accessed on November 28, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Fachrisadeh, Mohsen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fakhrizadeh, Mohsen; محسن فخری زاده (Persian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Iranian nuclear physicist
DATE OF BIRTH 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH Qom , Iran
DATE OF DEATH November 27, 2020
Place of death Absard , Tehran Province , Iran