Fakhrizadeh’s assassination has implications for Iran

Ali Rajab

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has accused Israel of involvement in the assassination of his country’s top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

Iran, he said, would respond to Fakhrizadeh’s assassination.

Nevertheless, the Iranian leader said his country would not take hasty decisions in this regard.

Fakhrizadeh breathed his last at a hospital in Iranian capital Tehran after his car was attacked near Tehran.

There is belief that his assassination was approved by the United States. American President Donald Trump threatened earlier this month to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Fakhrizadeh’s assassination dealt a painful blow to the Iranian regime. It compounds a series of assassinations of important Iranian figures, including Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani. Tehran also witnessed a series of mysterious bombings.

Fakhrizadeh’s assassination throws light on the future prospects of the Iranian regime itself.

It shows that Iran has already become an easy target for its enemies and opponents.

Together with the bombings, including some inside Iranian nuclear facilities, the assassination also divulges the presence of security loopholes in Iran and the weakness of Iranian intelligence.

The same developments give insight into the presence of conflicts between the different branches of the Iranian regime. There is apparently a conflict between different generations in this regime, namely between the old guards and the new generation.

This generational struggle portends a change within the regime itself.

Iran may resort to attacking American interests and the interests of American allies in the Gulf.

It can also turn to its traditional populist rhetoric with the aim of putting pressure on the new administration in the US to return to the negotiating table on Iran’s nuclear file.