Iran Mulls Response as it Prepares to Bury Killed Nuclear Scientist

By Amir Havasi

Debate raged in Iran on Sunday over how and when to respond to a top nuclear scientist's assassination, blamed on arch-foe Israel, as his body was honoured at Shiite shrines to prepare it for burial.

Two days after Mohsen Fakhrizadeh died from wounds sustained in a firefight between his guards and unidentified gunmen near Tehran, parliament demanded a halt to international inspections of Iranian nuclear sites while a top official hinted Iran should leave the global non-proliferation treaty.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council usually handles decisions related to the country's nuclear programme, and parliamentary bills must be approved by the powerful Guardians Council.

President Hassan Rouhani has stressed the country will seek its revenge in "due time" and not be rushed into a "trap.”

Israel says Fakhrizadeh was the head of an Iranian military nuclear programme, the existence of which the Islamic republic has consistently denied, and Washington had sanctioned him in 2008 for activities linked to Iran's atomic activities.

The scientist's body was taken for a ceremony on Sunday at a major shrine in the holy city of Qom before being transported to the shrine of the Islamic republic's founder Imam Khomeini, according to Iranian media.Fakhrizadeh's funeral will be held Monday in the presence of senior military commanders and his family, the defence ministry said on its website, without specifying where.

Demands for 'Strong Reaction'

Israel has not officially commented on Fakhrizadeh's killing, less than two months before US President-elect Joe Biden is set to take office after four years of hawkish foreign policy under President Donald Trump. Trump withdrew the US from a multilateral nuclear agreement with Iran in 2018 and then reimposed and beefed up punishing sanctions as part of its "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran.

Biden has signalled his administration may be prepared to rejoin the accord, but the nuclear scientist's assassination has revived opposition to the deal among Iranian conservatives.

The head of Iran's Expediency Council, a key advisory and arbitration body, said there was "no reason why (Iran) should not reconsider the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty".

Mohsen Rezaee said Tehran should also halt implementation of the additional protocol, a document prescribing intrusive inspections of Iran's nuclear facilitates.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Saturday for Fakhrizadeh's killers to be punished. Parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf called Sunday for "a strong reaction" that would "deter and take revenge" on those behind the killing of Fakhrizadeh, who was aged 59 according to Iranian media.

Call for Strikes

For Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Fakhrizadeh's killing was clearly tied to Biden's arrival in office.

"The timing of the assassination, even if it was determined by purely operational considerations, is a clear message to President-elect Joe Biden, intended to show Israel's criticism" of plans to revive the deal, it said.

The UAE, which in September normalised ties with Israel, condemned the killing and urged restraint.

The foreign ministry, quoted by the official Emirati news agency WAM, said Abu Dhabi "condemns the heinous assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, which could further fuel conflict in the region...

"The UAE calls upon all parties to exercise maximum degrees of self-restraint to avoid dragging the region into new levels of instability and threat to peace," it said.

Britain, a party to the nuclear accord, said Sunday it was "concerned" about possible escalation of tensions in the Middle East following the assassination, while Turkey called the killing an act of "terrorism" that "upsets peace in the region.”

In Iran, ultra-conservative Kayhan daily called for strikes on Israel if it were "proven" to be behind the assassination.

Kayhan called for the port city of Haifa to be targeted "in a way that would annihilate its infrastructure and leave a heavy human toll.”

Iran has responded to the US withdrawal from the 2015 deal by gradually abandoning most of its key nuclear commitments under the agreement.

'Revive Iran's Nuclear Industry

Rezaee called on Iran's atomic agency to take "minimum measures" such as "stopping the online broadcast of cameras, reducing or suspending inspectors and implementing restrictions in their access" to sites, ISNA news agency reported.

Iran's parliament said the "best response" to the assassination would be to "revive Iran's glorious nuclear industry.”

It called for International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to be barred from the country's atomic sites, said the legislature's news agency ICANA.

Some MPs had earlier accused inspectors of acting as "spies" potentially responsible for Fakhrizadeh's death.

But the spokesman for Iran's atomic energy organisation, Behrouz Kamalvandi, told IRNA on Saturday that the issue of inspectors' access "must be decided on at high levels" of the Islamic republic's leadership.

Photo: IRNA

Pompeo: Europe Not 'Helpful' as Could be over Soleimani Killing

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that Washington's European allies had not been "as helpful" as he hoped over the US killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in Iraq.

Pompeo called officials worldwide to discuss the attack, which was praised by US President Donald Trump's Republicans and close ally Israel, but elsewhere met with sharp warnings it could inflame regional tensions.

"I spent the last day and a half, two days, talking to partners in the region, sharing with them what we were doing, why we were doing it, seeking their assistance. They've all been fantastic," Pompeo said in an interview with Fox News.

"And then talking to our partners in other places that haven't been quite as good. Frankly, the Europeans haven't been as helpful as I wish that they could be," he said.

US officials said Soleimani, who had been blacklisted by the US, was killed when a drone hit his vehicle near Baghdad's international airport.

Following the assassination, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell called on all involved actors "to exercise maximum restraint and show responsibility in this crucial moment." 

Meanwhile French President Emmanuel Macron urged those involved to act with "restraint" while British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said de-escalation would be key.

"The Brits, the French, the Germans all need to understand that what we did, what the Americans did, saved lives in Europe as well," Pompeo said.

"This was a good thing for the entire world, and we are urging everyone in the world to get behind what the United States is trying to do to get the Islamic Republic of Iran to simply behave like a normal nation," he added.

Pompeo said earlier in the day that Soleimani was planning imminent action that threatened American citizens when he was killed in the strike.

Photo: IRNA

Dutch Recall Envoy From Iran in Murder Plot Row: Minister

The Netherlands said Monday it had recalled its ambassador from Tehran after Iran expelled two Dutch diplomats in an dispute over an alleged plot to assassinate regime opponents.

Dutch authorities accused Iran in January of involvement in the murder of two dissidents on Dutch soil in 2015 and 2017, and the EU slapped sanctions on Tehran over the killings.

Foreign Minister Stef Blok said in a letter to parliament that the government "has decided to recall the Netherlands' ambassador to Tehran for consultations" over the row.

Iran's decision to expel the Dutch officials—which was not previously announced in public—was "not acceptable and is negative for the development of the bilateral relationship," Blok said.

He said Iran's move was itself a tit-for-tat response to the Netherlands' expulsion of two Iranian embassy workers in June 2018 "due to strong indications from (Dutch intelligence) that Iran has been involved in the liquidations on Dutch territory of two Dutch people of Iranian origin."

Iran had informed Dutch authorities of the decision to expel the two diplomats on February 20 and they were deported back to the Netherlands on Sunday, Blok said.

The Dutch had also summoned the Iranian ambassador over the issue, Blok said.

Dutch police have previously named the two murder victims as Ali Motamed, 56, who was killed in the central city of Almere in 2015, and Ahmad Molla Nissi, 52, murdered in The Hague in 2017.

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

Iran Behind Two Assassinations in the Netherlands: Dutch Minister

The Netherlands accused Iran Tuesday of involvement in the murder of two dissidents on Dutch soil, adding that the EU was hitting Tehran with sanctions partly as a result of the killings.

The Dutch secret service "has strong indications that Iran was involved in the assassinations of two Dutch nationals of Iranian origin in Almere 2015 and in The Hague in 2017," Foreign Minister Stef Blok said in a letter to parliament.

"These individuals were opponents of the Iranian regime," he said in the letter, also signed by Dutch Interior Minister Kajsa Ollongren.

"The Netherlands considers it probable that Iran had a hand in the preparation or commissioning of assassinations and attacks on EU territory," the ministers said.

They added that the EU had on Tuesday "partly at the recommendation of the Netherlands" agreed to impose fresh sanctions on Iran.

Dutch police have previously named the two victims as Ali Motamed, 56, who was killed in the central city of Almere in 2015, and Ahmad Molla Nissi, 52, murdered in The Hague in 2017.

Last June, the Netherlands expelled two workers from the Iranian embassy in connection with the murders.

Tehran at the time protested the expulsion of the two diplomats as an "unfriendly and destructive move" and threatened to retaliate.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen had earlier confirmed that the European Union has agreed on new sanctions targeting the Iranian Intelligence and Security Ministry and two Iranian nationals.

Denmark had led efforts for sanctions after allegations that Tehran tried to kill three Iranian dissidents on Danish soil. 

France had meanwhile hit two suspected Iranian agents with asset freezes over a plot to bomb a rally near Paris.

Photo Credit: Wikicommons