Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Mahabadi (;21 March 1961 – 27 November 2020) was an Iranian nuclear physicist and scientist. He was regarded as the chief of Iran's nuclear program.
Born in Qom in 21 March 1961, Fakhrizadeh joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. He attended Shahid Beheshti University and later received a PhD from the University of Isfahan. Beginning in 1991, he was a physics professor at Imam Hossein University.
Fakhrizadeh led the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research and the Green Salt Project. Due to Fakhrizadeh's affiliation with the Iranian nuclear program, both the United Nations Security Council and the United States ordered his assets frozen in the mid-2000s. In the early 2010s, he established and led the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, which, according to the United States, conducted research potentially useful for nuclear weapons. Iran has denied that its nuclear programme has a military aspect. In 2018, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Fakhrizadeh was the head of the AMAD Project. Following his death, the Iranian government said that in 2020, he helped develop COVID-19 testing kits and a vaccine for use during the pandemic.
On 27 November 2020, the Israeli government assassinated Fakhrizadeh in a road ambush in Absard using an autonomous satellite-operated gun. In a June 2021 television interview, former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen offered Israel's closest admission yet of its responsibility for the assassination. The Iranian government labelled the killing of the scientist an act of "state terror". The killing raised tensions in the region and the Iranian legislature passed a bill to block inspections of its nuclear program.
Early life Fakhrizadeh was born in a conservative family in Qom in 1961. He became a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) after the Iranian revolution in 1979.
Career Academic career (1991–2020)
Fakhrizadeh received his B.Sc in nuclear physics from Shahid Beheshti University in 1987. He continued his education at the Isfahan University of Technology and received a PhD in nuclear radiation and cosmic rays.
According to Alireza Jafarzadeh, Fakhrizadeh was a member of the Imam Hossein University (IHU) faculty beginning in 1991. At IHU, located in Tehran, he taught physics. According to a 2007 CIA assessment conducted under President of the United States George W. Bush, Fakhrizadeh's academic position was a "cover story".
In the early 2000s, Fakhrizadeh led an initiative called the Biological Study Centre, described as a successor to the Physics Research Centre (PHRC). The activities of this research group took place at Lavizan-Shian.
In 2020, following his death, Fakhrizadeh was said (by the Iranian government) to have been a key figure in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit Iran particularly hard (COVID-19 pandemic in Iran). According to Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Fakhrizadeh led the team that developed the first Iranian COVID-19 tests. Iran's Defense Minister Amir Hatami reported that Fakhrizadeh had taken "great strides in the field of developing COVID-19 vaccine", later named FAKHRAVAC. He added that the center led by Fakhrizadeh went through the first phase of clinical human trials and "did great things for our dear people".
On 29 November 2020, the head of the Coronavirus Battle Headquarters of Tehran paid tribute to Fakhrizadeh as a prominent scientist and distinguished scholar in research, technology and the health sector.
United Nations sanctions (2006–2007)
As of 2006–07, Fakhrizadeh was subject to a United Nations Security Council asset freeze and travel notification requirements because the Council said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had asked to interview Fakhrizadeh and Iran refused to make him available. Iran has provided some information regarding Fakhrizadeh's work which the IAEA says is "not inconsistent with its findings", but the IAEA continues to seek corroboration of its findings. According to the UN designation, Fakhrizadeh was a senior Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics scientist and former head of the Physics Research Center (PHRC). The IAEA asked to interview him about the activities of the PHRC over the period he was head, but Iran denied the request. Fakhrizadeh was identified as a "key figure" in a 2007 report by the UN on Iran's nuclear programme.
A 2007 UN Security Council resolution identified Fakhrizadeh as a senior scientist in the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics and the former head of the Physics Research Center (PHRC) at Lavizan-Shian.
In 2008, the United States ordered his assets frozen, along with those of other Iranian officials.
Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (2011–2020) After the AMAD Project was discontinued, Fakhrizadeh established and led the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), a government-funded entity alleged by the US State department to be working on "dual-use research and development activities, of which aspects are potentially useful for nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons delivery systems." Transliterated Sazman-e Pazhohesh va Noavarihaye Defaee, SPND was founded in February 2011 and headquartered within Iran's Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics. Fakhrizadeh was SPND's director between 2008 and 2011. SPND was affiliated with Malek-Ashtar University of Technology.
SPND is a subordinated organization of Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics.
Nuclear weapons programme (2007–2020)
An internal 2007 Iranian document leaked to The Sunday Times identified Fakhrizadeh as the chairman of the Field for the Expansion of Deployment of Advanced Technology (FEDAT), the cover name for the organization running Iran's nuclear weapons programme. The document, entitled Outlook for Special Neutron-Related Activities over the Next Four Years, lays out a four-year plan to develop a uranium deuteride neutron initiator.
As a key figure in the Physics Research Center, Fakhrizadeh was responsible for planning and acquiring parts for Iran's first uranium enrichment plant. In 2010, The Guardian reported that Fakhrizadeh was believed to be in charge of Iran's nuclear programme.
In 2012, The Wall Street Journal called him "Tehran's atomic weapons guru"; in 2014, The New York Times called him "the closest thing to an Iranian Oppenheimer". Following Fakhrizadeh's assassination, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described him as "the country's prominent and distinguished nuclear and defensive scientist". Western intelligence agencies, including those of the United States, alleged that Fakhrizadeh was in charge of Iran's nuclear programme, Project 111, which they contend is or was an attempt to create a nuclear bomb for Iran; Iran has denied that its nuclear programme has a military aspect. Fakhrizadeh was referred to as the director of the Green Salt Project.
According to The New York Times, Fakhrizadeh was described in classified portions of American intelligence reports as deeply involved in an effort to design a nuclear warhead for Iran.
A June 2020 U.S. Department of State report stated that former contributors to Iran's nuclear weapons program continued to work on "weaponization-relevant dual-use technical activities" under Fakhrizadeh.
In November 2021, Fereydoon Abbasi, former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, hinted that Fakhrizadeh had worked on a nuclear weapons program, despite Khamenei's fatwa against nuclear weapons.
Role in the JCPOA About one year after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreement, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, during a ceremony in the IRIB International Conference Center on 8 February 2016, Hassan Rouhani awarded medals and orders to its nuclear negotiators and other key figures who helped to finalize the deal. Mohammad Javad Zarif, Hossein Dehghan, Ali Akbar Salehi were some of the names that were published by news agencies.Iran awards medals of honour to nuclear deal negotiators The Hindu Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was one of the notables who received an Order of Service by Hassan Rouhani as well. But, this was classified until after his assassination.Fakhrizadeh Received Order of Service for Role in 2015 Deal Iran Front Page
Fakhrizadeh reportedly questioned the efficacy of the deal, saying "America can't be compromised with".
Personal life Fakhrizadeh was married and had children. He had his own security detail and lived in a secure compound. Fakhrizadeh had reportedly escaped an assassination attempt in the past.
Despite his high status, Fakhrizadeh maintained a low public profile. He was rarely mentioned in Iranian state media and was typically referred to as a university professor. This secrecy recently slipped when he appeared on Iranian websites with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In a 2018 televised presentation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu singled out Fakhrizadeh. Relying on alleged Iranian documents obtained by Mossad, Netanyahu labelled Fakhrizadeh as the head of the AMAD Project. He then urged his audience to "remember his [Fakhrizadeh's] name".
Assassination
Prelude The Israeli government's foreign intelligence agency, Mossad, since 2007 has assassinated five Iranian scientists and wounded an additional one, using a variety of methods, including poisoning, remotely-detonated bombs, and motorcyclists shooting at the car of the targets. Israel had been seeking ways to assassinate Fakhrizadeh for years, and the effort resumed when U.S. president Donald Trump in May 2018 abrogated the Iran nuclear deal.
Fakhrizadeh's security team advised him against traveling on 27 November 2020 due to a higher level of risk that day. According to one of his sons, "[Fakhrizadeh] refused because he had an important meeting, and he was supposed to lecture to students. He insisted on returning to Tehran the same day."
Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, revealed that the Iranians did have an intelligence report predicting the assassination. However, it was ignored due to the frequency of assassination warnings. The BBC labelled this and the later discrepancies between accounts a "massive failure of counter-intelligence for Iran's security chiefs".
The year prior to Fakrizadeh's death saw escalating tensions between Iran and the United States and its allies. His death followed the assassination of Qasem Soleimani by the U.S. in January 2020 and the 2020 Iran explosions. The limited retaliation by the Iranian government to such incidents may have emboldened the Israeli effort to kill Fakhrizadeh.
Ambush attack On 27 November 2020, Fakhrizadeh was ambushed while traveling in a black Nissan Teana (pictured) on a rural road in Absard, a city near Tehran. He had been traveling between Tehran and his weekend villa: the area around Absard is filled with vacation villas. On that particular day, the roads were emptier than normal due to a COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, giving the attackers an opportunity to strike with fewer people in the area. Accompanied by a convoy of three armored vehicles, he was driving with his wife in an armored car. The convoy carried eleven bodyguards. Many reports of the incident are conflicting and there are multiple competing narratives.
Initial accounts described a Nissan truck, carrying explosives hidden beneath a load of wood, that detonated near Fakhrizadeh's car. According to Iranian authorities, gunmen then emerged and fired upon Fakhrizadeh's car. In response, Fakhrizadeh's bodyguards clashed with the assailants. In the gunfight, three bodyguards were killed and others were wounded. Iranian sources reported that three to four of the attackers were killed. This account was partly corroborated by witnesses who spoke to state media. There were also reports of a suicide attacker who later died from his injuries.