Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was a nuclear physicist and the father of Iran’s nuclear program. In 2020, while driving to his country house outside Tehran, he was shot by a rifle timed to go off just as his car passed by. The rifle was fired remotely, by someone who was thousands of miles away, in Israel. He then staggered out of the car, badly wounded, but still alive, and was finished off by riflemen somewhere on the side of the road. More on the meticulous planning of his assassination over many years, on the hesitation by one head of Mossad, Meir Dagan, and the go-ahead given to the killing of Fakhrizadeh by his successor, Yossi Cohen, as well as the way Fakhrizadeh almost escaped death, can be found here: “Inside the risky shooting orders behind the assassination of Iran’s nuclear chief – exclusive,” by Yonah Jeremy Bob, Jerusalem Post, July 9, 2025:
The founder and chief of Iran’s nuclear program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was assassinated on November 27, 2020, with Iran pointing the finger at the Mossad. Israel, even after the June conflict with Iran, has not taken responsibility for the episode.
While many details of Fakhrizadeh’s assassination were previously disclosed by The Jerusalem Post and other media outlets, there is one new major detail that has not been reported to date.
At a key point during the operation to kill Fakhrizadeh, he was hit by gunfire from his assassins while inside his car.
The Post understands, however, that operation commanders believed Fakhrizadeh was still alive and might survive, and that the operation should continue until his death was confirmed.
The operation commanders were right: Fakhrizadeh, though shot, managed to get out of the car and was still staggering on his feet, when he fell and was shot again with a rifle volley. This second set of riflemen remained in the area until Fakhrizadeh had been shot repeatedly, and they had satisfied themselves that he was dead.
It was so important to remove Fakhrizadeh from the playing field that it was worth investing additional time during which aspects and assets of the assassination plan would be dangerously more exposed, i.e., the assassins were more likely to be found and seized once they had opened fire, and Iranian security forces were actively trying to find the source of the gunfire.
It turned out that their suspicions were correct.
Fakhrizadeh, though wounded, was able to make it out of his car and started to move away from the scene, potentially to safety and medical attention, which could have kept him alive.
Yet, because the assets were kept in place, the assassins managed to resume gunfire on Fakhrizadeh….
The second burst of gunfire, directed at Fakhrizadeh after he had spilled, wounded, out of the car, was presumably not from the same rifle that had first been fired remotely, by a gunman thousands of miles away in Israel. This second rifle must have been fired, repeatedly, by a sniper on the side of the road, who put himself in great danger of being caught or killed. Fortunately, he managed to escape, in a vehicle that had been pre-positioned nearby.
Israeli intelligence sources later confirmed to the Post that this was not science fiction and that a remote-controlled gun was in fact the weapon used, specifically because it was believed that it would be more precise and only strike Fakhrizadeh, and not his wife, who was also traveling with him….
Think of the solicitude of Mossad, trying hard to avoid killing Fakhrizadeh’s wife. And yet we are told that Israel commits “genocide.”
The official version from Iran did not reveal that a second burst of gunfire, from gunmen not in Israel but near the target, was needed to kill Fakhrizadeh. The reason for this is clear: if Iran had admitted to that version, and had been unable to capture the person or persons responsible for finally killing him, it would look even more pitiful in the eyes of the Iranian public.
It is now the job of Cohen’s successors in the Mossad and the IDF to keep Iran from the bomb, knowing that Israeli military intelligence said in the late 1990s that absent Israeli intervention, the ayatollahs could have a nuclear weapon within a couple of years.
The moral of this tale of spectacular derring-do is simple. You likely read it here before: “Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”
Big Dude says
This should become a movie….
Jo Alex SG says
So true! In this case, reality tops fiction easily!
Jo Alex SG says
Although I’m a vegetarian for farm animals’ sake, almost vegan in pratice, I do recognize the utter need to have these brains of the ayatollahs’ regime’s nuclear program neutralized since we know how many Israeli lives would perish if their reign of terror got the a-bom or the whole free world for that matter. So, thank you Israel, Mossad and all the brilliant inteligence/defense forces of the only democracy amid MENA contries for destroying those who would be the doom of so many innocent lives before they could wreak even more havoc!
gravenimage says
Jo, I am vegan and also anti-Jihad. Farm animals are not trying to nuke us.
Alkflaeda says
So where is the medal for the sniper who put himself so much at risk?
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Killing individual scientists or engineers is just swatting mosquitoes. What needs to happen is the complete toppling of the islamic regime. Once Iran becomes secular & democratic, a democratic government can then decide to have a nuclear plant for legitimate purposes – providing energy to the people instead of building missiles
DokDream says
Agreed. While saying that, I have to acknowldege that it was the US that kept the Shah of Iran in power. In 1979, it appears that it was a “popular” rebellion that forced him into exile and welcomed the ayatollah. Chances are, it was a case of out of the frying pan into the fire, but the Iranian people realized that too later. But the point that islam was and is the root of the discontent remains. Look around the world. There are muslim countries that repressnt themselves as “secular,” ahd they are to a limited extent. But when their “fire and brimstone — and ‘holier than thou’ ” phony preachers get rolling, everything reverts to 7th century thinking. Until the world rids itself of islam — and Marxism for that matter — we will continue to lurch from one preventable human tragedy to another.
OLD GUY says
Absolutely TRUE, it is the so called religion of peace ISLAM that is disrupting the peace around the world. Islam is a violent political cult and nothing less.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
There is a difference b/w Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi – the last shah who the US backed, and who had a repressive secret police called SAVAK – and his son Reza Pahlavi
⮞ Reza Pahlavi has said that he’s not interested in power, but only in helping Iran have a smooth transition into a secular and democratic country. He has put together a blueprint for that which would preserve Iran’s territorial integrity. Which is good – there is no reason to celebrate an independent Khuzestan, which might end up like Iraq, or an independent Azerbaijan, which Baku may wanna target, or an independent Kurdistan, which Turkey will immediately pounce on
⮞ He has said that only if asked, he’d be willing to be the shah again, but this time as a ceremonial monarch like King Charles III, rather than an absolute executive monarch like his father, or MbS across the gulf. (I personally think that he should have some executive power unlike Charles, but not so much to resurrect SAVAK)
I am encouraged by the GAMAAN survey done 5 years ago that showed that only 40% of Iranians were still muslims. I expect that number to have dropped further since that poll was taken
DokDream says
Agreed. While saying that, I have to acknowldege that it was the US that kept the Shah of Iran in power. In 1979, it appears that it was a “popular” rebellion that forced him into exile and welcomed the ayatollah. Chances are, it was a case of out of the frying pan into the fire, but the Iranian people realized that too later. But the point that islam was and is the root of the discontent remains. Look around the world. There are muslim countries that repressnt themselves as “secular,” ahd they are to a limited extent. But when their “fire and brimstone — and ‘holier than thou’ ” phony preachers get rolling, everything reverts to 7th century thinking. Until the world rids itself of islam — and Marxism for that matter — we will continue to lurch from one preventable human tragedy to another.
Alphonse Caprice says
What strikes me is that this assassination should have been done many, many years ago.
sporticus says
“Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”
Trouble is you can go crazy without sleep.
We have the Waking Nightmare of the Middle East and no Prozac or sleeping tablets being parachuted in.
And we have Albanese and Wong from Dumbunder about to recognize a “Palastinian State” (as a UAP?) at the UN -but only if Hamas is not involved. How is it possible to exterminate Hamas -they have an endless supply of jihadists with 2,000,000 of them breeding and inbreeding even though the “sky is falling” ?
gravenimage says
Opposing Jihad terror does not make you crazy.
MJ Raichyk, PhD says
Has any source of this nonsensicle story ever displayed that miraculous rifle with its amazing electronics, along with the gizmos and mountings and camo set up to position it for its singular task?
Really? And the wife?
TTYL
sporticus says
“amazing electronics, along with the gizmos and mountings”
Where were you when the exploding pagers decimated Hezbollah? Living under a rock?
Or doing a PhD (same thing).
gravenimage says
+1
sporticus says
It was an exploding pager remotely controlled.
commonsense says
Nonsensicle? Is that a type of Popsicle? Where did you get your Ph.D.? i’d love to read your dissertation.
sporticus says
“Nonsensicle” : yes I also noticed that that is not what you expect from someone boasting a PhD.
But there are worse examples: in the high class, intellectual site UnHerd there is one anarchist who makes up his own punctuation at random as he goes along. He often starts with a small-i personal pronoun and that’s where I stop reading. He boasts that his posting name is his real name and that, ironically, he works in IT but such assertions are meaningless in the context. Another “Cretan Liar” is the poster who dislikes the Irish and is happy to boom from his pied-a-terre sliding off a Swiss mountain. But apart from such cretinous show-offs, UnHerd does scintillate in the comments. The site does get in some big names (Vance, Murray) and, well blow me down, the site even got mentioned, respectfully, by the BBC.
No, I have no vested interest in UnHerd but I wouldn’t mind seeing the most esteemed Hugh Fitzgerald writing for them.
Joseph Askew says
No Israel troops in enemy territory, destroy the enemy leaders via hi-tech weaponry, move all Arabs out of Israel payed for by Arabs, have fortress Israel. Go Israel, Jesus is your Messiah.