Senior Iranian nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was killed on Friday, November 27, 2020 in a town outside of Tehran, Iran by at least five assassins who peppered his body with bullets. This happened just five days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mossad chief Yossi Cohen flew to Neom, Saudi Arabia to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Only eight to ten years ago, Israel was responsible for the assassination of a number of Iranian nuclear scientists, so it appears that Mossad is at it again. On January 3, 2020, Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was assassinated by a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad, Iraq. Iran has been at the top of Pompeo’s targets for quite some time. As he stated in 2014: “I can tell you that this threat to America is from people who deeply believe that Islam is the way and the light and the only answer.” He went on to warn that Muslims “will continue to press against us until we make sure that we pray and stand and fight and make sure that we know that Jesus Christ as our savior is truly the only solution for our world” (Weiler, November 20, 2019).
In February of 2018, Netanyahu called Iran “the greatest threat to the world” (Goldberg, April 2, 2018). Pompeo, who bragge that as CIA Director, the Agency lied, cheated, and stole, and Netanyahu who is responsible for numerous Palestianian deaths and usurpation of Palestinian land, and MBS who had Jamal Khashoggi dismembered with a bone saw are intimately acquainted with the fascist mentality; hence, it is not only understandable but predictable that they will continue to engage in further unprovoked allegedly preemptive attacks on Iran.
The US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel each have expressed their desire to attack the Iranian government, and each has a history of doing so, though Israel has directly been implicated in previous assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists. And while direct attribution is at present circumstantial, it has nonetheless already been reported by US and Israeli officials that Israel is responsible for the killing of Fakhrizadeh (Golding, November 27, 2020).
Assassination is the murder of a politically important or prominent individual by surprise attack. It is intentional, it is extra-judicial, and it is done for political reasons. Such killings violate international law as well as human rights protocols. The appropriate response by all countries that seek to abide by international law is to outrightly condemn this naked act of aggression without reservation.
How the Iranian people and their government respond to this attack on their citizenry and sovereignty is something for the Iranians themselves to decide. Am certain the Iranian people are tired of other powers attempting to dictate how Iranian society and government should be run.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Goldberg, Jeffrey. April 2, 2018. “Saudi Crown Prince: Iran’s Supreme Leader ‘Makes Hitler Look Good’.” Washington, DC: The Atlantic. [https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/04/mohammed-bin-salman-iran-israel/557036/].
Golding, Bruce. November 27, 2020. “Officials say Israel was behind killing of Iranian nuclear scientist: report “. New York, NY: New York Post. [https://nypost.com/2020/11/27/officials-say-israel-behind-killing-of-iranian-nuclear-scientist-report/].
“Netanyahu: Iran is the greatest threat to the world.” February 18, 2018. Doha, Qatar: Al Jazeera Media Network. [https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/2/18/netanyahu-iran-is-the-greatest-threat-to-the-world].
Weiler, Yuram Abdullah. November 20, 2019. “Pompeo’s hatred of Iran arises from his deep-rooted Islamophobia.” Tehran, Iran: Tehran Times. [https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/442184/Pompeo-s-hatred-of-Iran-arises-from-his-deep-rooted-Islamophobia].