{"id":207,"date":"2020-11-28T07:44:28","date_gmt":"2020-11-28T07:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=127561"},"modified":"2020-11-28T07:44:28","modified_gmt":"2020-11-28T07:44:28","slug":"irans-rohani-accuses-u-s-israel-in-killing-of-top-nuclear-scientist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/11\/28\/irans-rohani-accuses-u-s-israel-in-killing-of-top-nuclear-scientist\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran’s Rohani Accuses U.S., Israel In Killing Of Top Nuclear Scientist"},"content":{"rendered":"
Iranian President Hassan Rohani has accused Israel of acting as a “mercenary” for the United States in connection with the assassination of Iran\u2019s top nuclear scientist near Tehran.<\/p>\n
“Once again, the wicked hands of the global arrogance, with the usurper Zionist regime as the mercenary, were stained with the blood of a son of this nation,” Rohani wrote on his official website on November 28.<\/p>\n
“The global arrogance” is a term often used by Iranian officials to refer to the United States, while “the usurper Zionist regime” is a reference to Israel.<\/p>\n
Nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated in an ambush near Tehran on November 27, in a brazen attack that threatens to escalate tensions between Iran and the United States and its close ally Israel.<\/p>\n
The head of Iran\u2019s nuclear agency, Ali-Akbar Salehi, vowed on November 28 that Fakhrizadeh\u2019s killing would not impair Iran\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n
“Fakhrizadeh\u2019s path is now being continued even more intensively,” Salehi was quoted by Iranian media as saying.<\/p>\n
Iran immediately blamed Israel for the assassination, while suggesting the United States also had an indirect or direct role.<\/p>\n
The assassination occurred when a truck with explosives hidden under a load of wood blew up near a car carrying Fakhrizadeh in the town of Absard, near Tehran, Iranian state media reported. As Fakhrizadeh’s sedan stopped, at least five gunmen raked the car with rapid fire and engaged in a gunfight with the scientist\u2019s bodyguards.<\/p>\n
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif claimed there were “serious indications of (an) Israeli role” in the assassination.<\/p>\n
“Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today. This cowardice — with serious indications of Israeli role — shows desperate warmongering of perpetrators,” Zarif wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n
He also called on the European Union to “end their shameful double standards and condemn this act of state terror.”<\/p>\n
Israel declined to immediately comment on the killing of Fakhrizadeh. The Pentagon, White House, State Department, and CIA also declined to comment.<\/p>\n
The New York Times, citing one U.S. official and two other intelligence officials, said Israel was behind the attack on the scientist, although it wasn\u2019t clear what, if any, knowledge the United States may have had about the operation.<\/p>\n