The Times: The Mossad recruited an Iranian to assassinate Fakhrizadeh

The Times published a report written by Middle East correspondent Richard Spencer, in which he talks about new information in the case of the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

According to the report, the assassination of Fakhrizadeh led to tension between the military and intelligence in Iran over an army-trained recruiter who was suspected of being recruited by the Israeli intelligence service (Mossad).

The writer mentioned that the Iranian Minister of Intelligence, Mahmoud Alawi, revealed in a television statement that a conscript in the army had prepared a plan to assassinate Fakhrizadeh.

Alawi said that the recruiter left the country, and that the intelligence service was unable to monitor members of the army.

However, the army responded to Alawi’s statements in a statement explaining that the suspect joined the army for a short period and then left the military establishment in 2014, expelled due to “moral problems and addiction”.

Spencer believes that the tension between the army and intelligence reflects the degree of embarrassment caused by the assassination of Fakhrizadeh to the Iranian authorities, as he is a senior official in the Revolutionary Guard and his rank is equivalent to that of Deputy Minister of Defense, and therefore it was necessary to provide him with heavy guard.

Israel did not claim responsibility for the assassination, but it did not deny it either. 

Intelligence sources confirm, according to the writer, that the operation bears the hallmarks of the Mossad.

The attackers were able to kill Fahrizadeh without causing any harm to his wife, who was sitting next to him in the car, and without killing any of his private guards.

The assassination of Fakhrizadeh was the second major loss Iran suffered in 2020, after the killing of General Qassem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Baghdad.