World News

Iranian Nuclear Scientist, Moshen Fakhrizadeh, assassinated over the weekend.

The Supreme leader calling for revenge, blames Israel.

Editor Kendall Billings

This weekend, on Friday the 27th, an Iranian nuclear scientist was assassinated via remote-controlled machine gun. The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, has vowed revenge towards Israel, who they assume did it. Khamenei, in a tweet that next day, wrote, “Mr Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed by the oppressive enemies. This rare scientific mind lost his life for his everlasting great scientific work. He lost his life for God and the supreme leader."

The assasination happened when Fakhrizadeh was traveling with his wife in a bulletproof car. He was also accompanied by three security personnel vehicles. According to CNN, Fakhrizadeh heard bullets hit his car, and so he left the car to investigate. However, when he got out, the remote-controlled gun fired from a Nissan, shooting the scientist three times. After the gunfire, the Nissan exploded.

Hatami was quoted by CNN saying "Based on reports received from members of his security detail, Mr. Fakhrizadeh's vehicle was initially targeted by gunfire, after which a Nissan vehicle laden with explosives was set off in close proximity to them as gunfire, targeting their vehicle, was continuing,"

This assasination caused tensions to rise in Tehran-Washington relations, which CNN has reported saying that Donald Trump made them worse by pulling out of a nuclear deal with Iran, as well as invoking crippling economic sanctions on Iran.

On that same Friday, Israeli journalist Yossi Melman tweeted, “Fakhrizadeh was head of Iran's secret military program and was wanted for many years by Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence agency”, which Donald Trump retweeted. The White House stated that they were closely monitoring the killing.

The funeral of Fakhrizadeh is held today, Monday the 30th. His remains will be taken to the shrine of Imam Reza, an important religious hub for Shias, in Mashhad. His body will then be taken to the tomb of Ayatollah Khomeini, the Islamic republic’s founder, in Tehran.