The top Iranian nuclear scientist was Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Killed in November 2020 A sophisticated hit led by a Mossad team, which reportedly deployed a computerized machine gun that did not require any on-site operatives, took less than a minute, and no one else, including the scientist’s wife, at the time who was with him at the time.
according to a depth New York Times report Published on Saturday, the weapon used in the high-profile assassination last year of Fakhrizadeh, regarded by Israel and many Western officials as the “father” of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, is a Belgian-made FN MAG machine gun attached to an advanced robot. Was. equipment and powered with artificial intelligence technology. The entire equipment weighed about a ton and was smuggled into Iran in smaller parts and reassembled before operation.
The Mossad team handled the entire operation from a command center outside the country, according to reports the publication was based on interviews with American, Israeli and Iranian officials, including two intelligence officers familiar with the planning and execution details. Operation.”
The report detailed how Israel had been closely following Fakhrizadeh’s career and movements since at least 2007 and in late 2019 and early 2020 under the leadership of then Mossad director Yossi Cohen and high-ranking After a series of meetings between Israeli officials began preparations for an assassination operation. Including then US President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and CIA Director Gina Haspel.
Reportedly, these preparations kicked into high gear by the summer of 2020, and Israel decided to move forward, driven by two factors: Iran’s response to the January 2020 killing of its top general, Qasem Soleimani, in a US drone strike. facility of. Israeli intelligence, and the growing likelihood that Trump would lose the national election that November, prompted Joe Biden to back the US in the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
The New York Times reported, “If Israel was going to kill a top Iranian official, an act that had the potential to start a war, it needed the consent and protection of the United States.” Benjamin Netanyahu “seeed eye to eye.”
Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in an undated photo. (courtesy)
“In Mr Netanyahu’s best-case scenario, the assassination would derail any opportunity to revive the nuclear deal, even if Mr Biden wins,” the report read.
Fakhrizadeh, 59, a physicist, an officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a professor at Imam Hussein University in Tehran, on his way home from his vacation home on the Caspian Sea with his wife on November 27, 2020. Country house in Absard, east of Tehran. He was driving his vehicle, a black Nissan Teana sedan, with his wife sitting in the passenger seat next to him and his bodyguards sitting behind him in separate cars.
The report detailed how the scientist disregarded warnings of a possible assassination attempt, as well as the advice of his security team, insisting on driving himself in an unarmed car.
Meanwhile, Mossad’s computerized weapon was affixed to an abandoned-looking car, a blue Nissan Zamayed pickup truck, which was deployed by Iranian agents to work with Mossad at a junction on the main road where Absurd The drivers going to the U.S. had to take a U-turn. according to the report. The truck was loaded with cameras and explosives so that it could be destroyed after the collision.
When the team learned that Fakhrizadeh was moving out, “the assassin, a skilled sniper, took his position, calibrated the gun sights, raised the weapon and lightly touched the trigger” – all “an unknown location thousands of miles away”. From. And no longer in Iran.
The hit team had to overcome a number of obstacles, including a short delay as well as the weapon’s withdrawal after a shot that could have changed the trajectory. The report states that “AI [articificial intelligence] was programmed to compensate for delays, jerks and speed of the car,” without going into further detail.
Once Fakhrizadeh’s vehicle reached the junction, another vehicle with his bodyguards drove to the holiday home to inspect him before his arrival, leaving him uncovered. The remaining vehicles in the convoy slowed to a speed bump just before the parked truck and the operator opened fire, leaving Fakhrizadeh’s black Nissan under the windshield.
The report said it is unknown whether he was injured or not, but the car turned and came to a halt after which he got out and leaned in front of the open door. Then he was hit by three more bullets that “burst in his spine” and fell on the road.
The first bodyguard arrived at the scene with a weapon and “looked around for the attacker, looking confused.”
Fakhrizadeh’s wife ran to him and sat beside him on the road. The blue truck exploded again but most of the equipment remained largely intact, though severely damaged.
The New York Times reported that a total of 15 shots were fired and the entire killing was over in less than 60 seconds. No one else was killed or injured.
According to the report, the operation was considered a success, with “serious security failures by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, extensive planning and surveillance by the Mossad, and an insurgency bordering on fatalism on the part of Mr. Fakhrizadeh.”
The New York Times noted, “The souped-up, remote-controlled machine gun now joins combat drones in the arsenal of high-tech weapons for remote targeted assassination,” and “the potential to reshape the worlds of security and espionage.” Is.” .
The report said he had previously been targeted for assassination, most recently in 2009 when a hit team set out to carry out their plan, but the operation was halted due to fears of a Mossad attack.