In the last few weeks before president Trump leaves office more actions are seen in Iran. The death of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the top nuclear scientist and mastermind of Iran’s nuclear weapons program has been killed in an ambush on Friday confirmed by Iran’s security forces that the act was held by Israel. Fakhrizadeh has been mentioned in 2018 in a presentation by Natanyahu releasing Fakhrizadeh’s work on the nuclear program and was put on Israel’s top agenda ever since. The assassination of Muhsen Fakhrizadeh has be met by heavy condemnation of Iranian officials, Iran calling the UN to condemn the act and many senior officials publicly announcing retaliation. Protests by Iranian civilians also calling for retaliation as Fakhrizadeh has created a Covid-19 kit for his people to fight the virus[1]. The assassination of Fakhrizadeh goes along with a number of scientists killed by the Israeli government and on par with the U.S. assignation of major general Qassem Solimani. Both have served and had prominent roles in the Islamic revolutionary Guard corps (IRCG), Solimani was the major general of the (IRCG) and Fakhrizadeh was senior official. Which magnifies possible forceful attempts within retaliation. This makes it a very tough environment for president-elect Joe Biden to walk into office and restore friendly diplomatic relations and revive the JCPOA as pledged in his campaign.
[1]https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/world/middleeast/iran-nuclear-scientist-assassinated-mohsen-fakhrizadeh.html
Fatema,
The assassination of Fahkrizedah is indeed very troubling. Israel has not actually claimed credit for the killing, but it bears all the hallmarks of a Mossad action. And as you point out, the timing (coming just weeks before the end of the Trump administration) seems unlikely to be a coincidence. While it is true that a resumption of an Iranian nuclear weapons program would likely provoke the Saudis to respond in kind–and the Israelis to attempt to bomb the known Iranian nuclear sites–the better way to restrain them is for the US to rejoin the JCPOA agreement.
It must be noted, however, that this will do nothing to stop the support that Iran has been giving to Hezbollah, Hamas and other groups in the Middle East, not would it address the Iranians’ efforts to develop “smart” missiles and drones, all of which is outside the framework of the JCPOA agreement. Hopefully, the Biden administration can find a new approach that will engage the Iran regime in a broader security dialogue. –Professor Wallerstein