Iranian Minister of Security and Intelligence, Mahmoud Alavi, stated that a member of the Iranian armed forces provided the means for the assassination of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
Alavi emphasized in an interview with Iranian television on Monday evening that the Ministry of Security and Intelligence had informed the armed forces that the enemy was gathering information in the location where the incident occurred. He explained that the ministry had notified the armed forces just five days prior that there was a plan to assassinate scientist Fakhrizadeh at the same location where he was killed, stressing that they did not know the timing of the operation.
Alavi referred to some Twitter users who claimed that the Ministry of Security was aware of the time and place of the assassination and questioned why no action was taken. He clarified that the ministry had information about the location of the assassination but not about the timing of its execution. He noted that the late Fakhrizadeh was a member of the armed forces, and the individual who provided the means for the assassination was also a member of the armed forces, asserting that the Ministry of Security could not interfere in the intelligence matters of the armed forces. He mentioned that he requested the armed forces to send a representative to discuss the assassination plot, but unfortunately, the operation took place before he could do so.
Fakhrizadeh, head of the Research and Technology Center at the Iranian Ministry of Defense, was one of the prominent developers of the Iranian nuclear program and was assassinated on November 27, 2020, in an operation that Tehran described as "terroristic." The Iranian Ministry of Defense at the time reported that armed terrorist elements attacked a vehicle carrying Fakhrizadeh, who sustained serious injuries during the clash between his security team and the attackers, and was taken to the hospital where he passed away despite medical efforts to save him. The Iranian leadership accused Israel, which had previously vowed to take all possible measures to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, of being behind this operation.
