Slain Iran scientist was once warned by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "Remember that name"

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the work of one of Iran's top nuclear scientists during a 2018 news conference about the country's allegedly ongoing nuclear development program.

The scientist, Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was killed on Friday in what Iran's Ministry of Defense described as an attack by terrorists. Iran has accused Israel of conducting the attack.

Fakhrizadeh's name came up during a news conference that Netanyahu hosted on April 30, 2018, shortly after Israel obtained troves of documents that appeared to detail Iran's nuclear weapon development efforts. Appearing in front of a screen that alternately showed screenshots of specific documents with enlarged quotes from Iranian officials and statements like "Iran lied" in large text, Netanyahu said Israel had proof that Iran continued "Project Amad," its nuclear war program, in the shadows for years after concluding the program officially in 2003.

Netanyahu said at the time that Iran developed a new strategy to continue its nuclear research with top scientists in place to move the work forward. One of those scientists was Fakhrizadeh, the man believed to have been at the head of Project Amad, Netanyahu said. The prime minister included on one slide a quote from Fakhrizadeh that said Iran's "general aim is to announce the closure of Project Amad" but that "special activities will be carried out under the title of scientific knowhow development."

"This is how Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, head of Project Amad, put it—remember that name, Fakhrizadeh," Netanyahu said, pointing to Fakhrizadeh's comments. "And in fact, this is exactly what Iran proceeded to do. It continued thi... (Read more)

Tweets mentioned:

https://twitter.com/JZarif/status/1332345633425022976

Latest News