Iran assassination: ‘62 operatives as convoy ambushed with bomb, snipers and motorbike gunmen’
The assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist “involved 62 operatives”, with the convoy ambushed by snipers and motorbike gunmen.
Details have emerged of a meticulously executed plan to kill Iran’s nuclear weapons mastermind Mohsen Fakhrizadeh as Israel’s spy agency Mossad is blamed for the assassination.
Sixty-two people plus bombs, snipers and motorbike gunmen were reportedly involved in the precisely-co-ordinated execution of the 59-year-old scientist as he was driven to his mountain retreat in a convoy of three bulletproof cars.
The details were leaked on Twitter by Mohamad Ahwaze, an Iranian journalist who earlier this year exposed the extent of the COVID-19 pandemic in his secretive country.
It comes as Iran’s supreme leader called for the “definitive punishment” of those behind the execution of his top nuclear weapons expert.
RELATED: Iran vows revenge on Israel after assassination of nuclear scientist
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made his pledge in a statement on his official website after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani appeared on TV to blame archenemy Israel for the killing.
US Intelligence officials also told the New York Times that Israel was behind the attack, which bears the hallmarks of its Mossad spy agency.
According to Ahwaze, 12 members of the crack hit squad team were deployed to the city of Absard, 50 miles east of Tehran.
Another 50 people, he said, helped with logistical support, although he did not specify whether they were based in Iran, or abroad.
The team had been spying Fakhrizadeh and knew he was going to be driving from Tehran to Absard on Friday.
And so they hatched a plan to attack at a roundabout in Absard, which is at the foot of a tree-lined boulevard which enters the city.
HIT SQUAD LIES IN WAIT
A Hyundai Santa Fe with four passengers and four motorcycles carrying snipers were waiting for him at the scene of the ambush.
There was also a booby-trapped Nissan pickup ready to blow up as the convoy passed.
Half an hour before Fakhrizadeh’s convoy of three bulletproof cars arrived, electricity was cut off to the area,
As the third car passes, the Nissan explodes and the convoy stops.
Twelve assassins including two snipers then unleash a hail of bullets on a second car, containing Fakhrizadeh.
Ahwaze said: “According to Iranian leaks, the leader of the assassination team took Fakhrizadeh out of his car and shot him and made sure he was killed.”
The hit squad then melts away, having sustained no losses to their team, Ahwaze reported.
Residents told state TV they heard a big explosion followed by intense firefight as Fakhrizadeh’s bodyguards desperately fought back.
A police helicopter landed in the area to transport Fakhrizadeh and others to the hospital.
But once there they were surprised to find that there was no electricity since the power had been cut earlier.
They were then transported to Tehran.
At 7.30pm local time on Friday, the Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, said that “an eminent Iranian scientist” had been killed, with the suspected aid of Israel.
Fakhrizadeh’s body lay in a flag-draped, open coffin at a mosque yesterday in central Tehran, where Iran’s chief justice, Ebrahim Raisi, prayed over his body in a public spectacle of mourning.
His death sent tensions in the region skyrocketing as Iran accused Israel of trying to provoke a war by killing the scientist.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu once referred to Fakhrizadeh in a news conference about Iran’s illicit nuclear weapons program, tellingly saying: “Remember that name”.
The execution comes amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East between Iran and the US — along with its allies Israel and Saudi Arabia — over the Islamic Republic’s quest for nuclear weapons.
Iran has vowed to “strike like thunder” on whoever carried out the attack.
Meanwhile, it emerged today US aircraft carrier USS Nimitz was deployed to the Gulf this week just days before the assassination.
US Navy officials have however insisted that the deployment of the 101,000-ton warship was not related to any “specific threats”.
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani had earlier accused Iran’s arch-foe Israel of acting as a “mercenary” for the US and seeking to create chaos by carrying out the assassination.
He said: “The nation of Iran is smarter than to fall in the trap of the conspiracy set by the Zionists.
“They are thinking of creating chaos, but they should know that we have read their hands and they will not succeed.”
He vowed that Iran will not “leave this criminal act unanswered” and will retaliate “in due time”.
This story was published by The Sun and reproduced with permission.
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