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Iran
This Week in AsiaOpinion
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Opinion | Iran’s enemies are spoiling for a fight, so how will it respond to top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh’s assassination?

  • From cyberattacks to missile strikes to full-blown proxy warfare, Tehran‘s retaliation for the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh could take many forms
  • But after four years of Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign, Iran is desperate for relief and a fresh start with a new US government

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Protesters burn pictures of US President-elect Joe Biden and President Donald Trump during a demonstration against the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh on Saturday. Photo: Reuters
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A day after Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a leading Iranian nuclear physicist, was assassinated while travelling in his car on the outskirts of Tehran, the country’s president, Hassan Rowhani, openly accused Israel of murder.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously named Fakhrizadeh, who was head of Iran’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, as a key player in the Iranian nuclear programme and pointedly told a news conference to “remember the name”.

For the second time in a year, Iran has to confront the question of how to respond to provocation. After Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leader Major-General Qassem Soleimani was killed by an American drone strike in January, Tehran said it would choose when and how to exact revenge. The answer came via a barrage of missiles aimed at US troops in Iraq – in keeping with Tehran’s policy of “strategic patience”.

Today, however, the circumstances are different, and time is no longer on the Islamic republic’s side.

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Next US president will have to give in to Iran, Rouhani says

Next US president will have to give in to Iran, Rouhani says

Fakhrizadeh’s assassination followed a series of alleged cyberattacks on Iranian nuclear sites’ control systems, and a string of mysterious explosions in military hardware depots around the country. Three months ago, Abu Muhammad al-Masri – believed to be al-Qaida’s second in command – was gunned down in the streets of Tehran.

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These incidents have unnerved ordinary Iranians and exposed the regime’s inability to maintain security within its borders. Tehran’s options will now be severely narrowed as it looks to exact revenge, and address its perceived failings, within a short period of time.

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