Reports-Top Iranian Nuclear Scientist Assassinated Near Tehran

Widespread reports that Dr Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, one of the most senior figures in Iran's nuclear programme, has been assassinated near Tehran. Hard-line conservative Iranian news outlet Rajanews reporting the assassination occurred in a suicide attack.

• The Iranian Revolutionary Guard officer was seen as such an important cog within the Iranian nuclear setup that he had previously been namechecked by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in 2018.
• Supposedly the spokesman for Iran's nuclear organisation has denied that Fakhrizadeh is dead, while the commander of the IRGC has said that any killing will be avenged as has been the case in the past.
• A Reuters report from November 11 stated that Iran had completed moving its first cascade of nuclear centrifuges to underground (bombproof) facilities, in what would be another breach of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
• With the US set to undergo a change of leadership in January, Iran holding presidential elections by June 2021 at the latest, and Israeli defence minister Benny Gantz set to take over as PM from Benjamin Netanyahu in Nov 2021, the coming 12 months are set to prove volatile in terms of both inter-Middle Eastern relations and the role of Western powers in the region as well.