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Report: Iranian Nuclear Scientist Slain with Remote-Control Gun

(New York Times) Ronen Bergman and Farnaz Fassihi - Iran's top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was killed on Nov. 27, 2020, by a remotely operated, Belgian-made, FN MAG machine gun attached to an advanced robotic apparatus in a pickup truck and operated by a sniper more than 1,000 miles away. The entire operation took less than a minute. Fifteen bullets were fired. This report is based on interviews with American, Israeli and Iranian officials, including two intelligence officials familiar with the details of the planning and execution of the operation. The operation's success was the result of serious security failures by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, extensive planning and surveillance by Israel's Mossad, and Fakhrizadeh's own lack of diligence. American officials briefed about the plan supported it, according to an official who was present at the meeting. According to the Mossad, Iran's bomb-building program had been deconstructed in 2003 and its component parts scattered among different programs and agencies, all under Fakhrizadeh's direction. In 2008, when President George W. Bush was visiting Jerusalem, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert played him a recording of a recent conversation between Fakhrizadeh and a colleague. According to three people who heard the recording, Fakhrizadeh spoke explicitly about his ongoing effort to develop a nuclear warhead.
2021-09-20 00:00:00
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