Iran’s chief nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was murdered by a team of Israeli spies who used a 1-ton remote-controlled machine gun smuggled into pieces, according to a new report.
The team of more than 20 Mossad agents, some of whom were Iranian citizens, spent eight months gathering surveillance and planning the hit before the weapon pumped 13 bullets into Fakhrizadeh on Nov. 27 as he moved from Tehran to his hometown. was driven, London’s Jewish Chronicle reported. .
The Mossad National Intelligence Agency is the feared counterpart of the CIA in Israel.
The gun was so accurate that neither the wife of the 59-year-old nor any of his 12 bodyguards were injured in the attack in Absard, according to the outlet, which reported that the weapon was fired remotely from a Nissan pickup truck.
The heavy gun also contained a bomb, which destroyed the evidence after the attack, according to the Chronicle, which reported that the murder was only committed by Israel with US involvement.
Israeli analysts have concluded that the death of the so-called “father” of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program extended the period it would take for Tehran to produce a bomb from about 3 1/2 months to at least two years, according to the report.
And the Iranian regime has secretly ruled that it will take six years for a replacement for Fakhrizadeh to become fully operational, it added.
Sources told the Chronicle that the mission to wipe out Ran’s chief nuclear scientist was successful in part because Iranian security forces were too busy observing suspected political dissenters.
A separate account from the outlet traced the origins of the attack to January 21, 2018, when it said Mossad agents had stolen a large stockpile of Iran’s nuclear secrets by using torches to free 50,000 pages of documents and 163 CDs from 32 safes .
Sources told the Chronicle that Jerusalem is using the information it gathers to convince the Biden government, through the International Atomic Energy Agency, that Iran cannot be trusted to abide by the terms of a nuclear deal.
“We will base our arguments this time on pure intelligence, not politics. It will be cleaner to do that, ”an Israeli source told the outlet, adding that the secrets would not be new to the US, but Israeli officials would offer their own interpretation.
When Israeli analysts saw the material retrieved by the spies in 2018, they knew that Fakhrizadeh was destined to “leave,” using Mossad slang.
“It contained original documents ordering to hide the nuclear program, much of it in Fakhrizadeh’s handwriting,” a source told the Chroncile.
Analysts realized they were looking at his ink, his fingerprints, and his print on the paper as he wrote. He was the one behind the deception, ”the source continued.
“Fakhrizadeh was the father of everything we found in the archive. Everything was under his command, from the science and the secret sites to the staff and know-how. He had run an operation to hide it from the world. From then on it was only a matter of time, ”the source added.
In March 2020, a team of Israeli spies was sent to Iran, where it met with local agents, according to the report.
“The team has drawn up a very detailed minute-by-minute plan,” a source told The Chronicle. “For eight months they breathed with the man, woke up with him, slept with him, traveled with him. They would have smelled his aftershave every morning if he had used aftershave. “
The agents decided to kill Fakhrizadeh on the road leading east from Tehran or Absard, where he owned a villa.
“They knew his daily route, speed and timing, and they knew exactly which doors they would use to get out,” a source told the outlet.
On Nov. 27, while Fakhrizadeh was traveling with his wife in a black Opel and a convoy of 12 bodyguards, a team of Mossad operatives watched and waited for the right time to unleash the deadly salvo, the report said.
As the vehicle passed a designated spot, they pressed a remote control button that fired 13 bullets that hit Fakhrizadeh while his wife, who was four inches away, was unharmed, he said.
Iranian officials have claimed that Fakhrizadeh’s security chief was hit by four bullets as he threw himself over the scientist, but sources close to the operation told the outlet that no one else was killed or injured in the attack.
“There were several ways to work, but this one was the most accurate,” a source told The Chronicle.
“It was the most elegant way to get the target hit, and only him. The goal was to prevent anyone else from doing harm, ”the source said, adding that claims that gunmen had pulled in to kill the scientist were false.
As the Israeli team escaped, the weapon blew itself up.
“Thank goodness we got all our people out and they didn’t get anyone. They didn’t even come close, ”said a source familiar with the operation to the outlet. Their security wasn’t bad at all, but the Mossad was much better. It was something important that happened – a dramatic operation. “