On November 27th, 2020, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated in Absard, a city near Tehran, Iran. Mohsen was a well-known, high-ranking senior official in the nuclear program in Iran.

Mohsen was attacked as he drove down Absard Road; he was later found severely wounded and his car was sprayed with bullets.

Numerous Iranian narratives around how he was assassinated are circulating the news. However, nobody is certain of what happened to him. 

Initially, it was speculated that around a dozen armed attackers fired on Mohsen and his bodyguard. Later on, and what currently stands, is that Mohsen and his bodyguard were attacked by remote-controlled weapons and nobody else was present at the scene. 

“I find it interesting how quickly the story can change and how we can go from one version where there were tons of people present, to a version where there was almost nobody present,” said Kalle Ogden (‘22).

Although unsure of how he was assassinated, Iran and the United States are certain that Israel is somehow accountable for Mohsen’s death. 

To break it down, Mohsen played a pivotal role in Iran’s nuclear programme. In the eyes of Iran, Israel, worried about Mohsen’s aid in the creation of nuclear weapons, constructed a clever plan to assassinate him. 

Israeli officials, however, have not touched on these allegations yet. 

“I’m hopeful that in the next couple of days, we’ll have a pretty clear answer as to what happened and who’s responsible,” said Ogden. 

Some analysts have started to suggest that this attack wasn’t aimed primarily to mess with the Iranian nuclear programme but to perhaps put an end to the possibility of US president-elect Joe Biden rejoining the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal. President Donald Trump withdrew from this deal in 2018, and Biden had stated that if Iran decides to comply with the pact and resumes strict compliance, he would rejoin.

“I feel like a lot of people look at this death in Iran and don’t associate it with us, but we are actually greatly affected by this as well. We don’t know for sure what this means for the US, but it’s important to be wary,” said Gianna Ghio (‘23). 

Mohsen’s funeral was held at the defense ministry in Tehran. The funeral was relatively small as officials gathered around, sitting apart from one another and wearing masks. 

Iranian officials have vowed that his death will not go unnoticed and that they will continue to search for answers.