The anti-refugee police riot in Paris: A warning to the working class
Alex Lantier WSWS
27 November 2020
Heavily armed riot police descended on a tent camp on Republic Square in Paris Monday night and staged a fascistic attack that shocked millions of workers and youth internationally.
Police savagely beat defenseless refugees in their tents and chased them through the streets of Paris, firing tear gas. When elected officials tried to speak to refugees who fled to City Hall, they were kettled behind a police cordon. Moreover, even as the government adopted an authoritarian “global security” law that includes a ban on filming of police in public, under pain of one year in prison and a €45,000 fine, police assaulted journalists covering their operation and were videoed throwing journalist Rémy Buisine to the ground and beating him.
As public anger mounted, and protests broke out on Republic Square, various newspapers and politicians suddenly rediscovered their objections to police brutality. The New York Times criticized the “drift towards repression” in France. Socialist Party (PS) Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo wrote to the Interior Ministry about “the use of disproportionate and brutal force,” before adding, “Unfortunately, this unacceptable episode is not without precedent.”
Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s Unsubmissive France (LFI) party criticized violence against “people who are only demanding their human rights.”
President Emmanuel Macron’s government now feels obliged to criticize its own operation, even trying to turn the crisis to its advantage. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has promised an investigation, claiming he is “shocked,” and Prime Minister Jean Castex has pledged to submit the ban on filming police to a challenge at the Constitutional Council once the “global security” law is adopted.
These are false promises aiming to lull workers and youth to sleep. The brutal state attack on refugees is not an isolated case of “overaggressive policing” by a few bad cops encouraged by a poorly drafted law. Amid a global economic collapse driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, an irrepressible conflict is emerging internationally between the working class and the financial aristocracy, powerful sections of which support building fascist police states. The alternative of socialist revolution or capitalist barbarism is starkly posed.
Even if the filming ban were overturned, this would not halt the Macron administration’s far-right evolution. It is also passing laws to make student occupations of universities punishable by three years in prison and a €45,000 fine, and reviving the drastic pension cut it promised to abandon during the pandemic. Its “global security” law would deploy drones against protests and set up emergency joint coordination of operations by national, municipal and paramilitary police and private security agencies.
With 450,000 armed men to be deployed against the population, Le Monde wrote, France has one policeman “per 150 inhabitants (against 1 per 280 in 2018),” making it “the European Union’s security leader.”
Given the massive police state build-up, the remarks of neofascist retired chief of staff General Pierre de Villiers to the far-right magazine Current Values bear examination.
Last year, after the Macron government had authorized the army to open fire on “yellow vests” protesting social inequality, de Villiers called for more “firmness” against the workers. Even after riot police had arrested over 10,000 people and wounded 4,400 in the protests, he demanded harsher repression of railway and education strikes: “A gulf has emerged between those who lead and those who obey. This gulf is profound. The ‘yellow vests’ were already a first sign of this… We must restore order; things cannot continue this way.”
Last week, de Villiers told Current Values the crisis is so deep that “profound transformations” are inevitable. “Today there is not only the security crisis but the pandemic, all amid an economic, social and political crisis and with our leaders no longer enjoying any broader confidence.”
Since “these suppressed resentments can all explode at the same time… not just in France but in the whole world,” de Villiers said, “We must think the unthinkable.”
Asked what this meant, de Villiers all but openly endorsed a neofascist dictatorship: “The rule of law is obviously a nice thing, but sometimes you also have to think strategically.”
The COVID-19 pandemic is a trigger event in world history. Already before the pandemic, an international eruption of class struggle against unsustainable levels of social inequality had deeply shaken the ruling elite. Now, as deaths mount and with the economy collapsing, social misery is rising at a rate not seen since the Great Depression and the fascist era of the 1930s, when the financial aristocracy pursued a fascistic, class-based policy to defend its privileges against the working class and turned to military conflict against their rivals during a decade that ended in world war.
While seizing trillions of euros and dollars in public funds for bank bailouts, the world’s ruling elites are ordering workers and youth back to work and school amid the pandemic. After the EU’s €2 trillion bailouts, France’s wealthiest have recouped their losses from the initial crash during the pandemic: Bernard Arnault and family are back to $142 billion, Françoise Bettencourt to $72 billion, and François Pinault to $46 billion, according to Forbes.
Workers are told, however, that there is no money for health care or jobs, or to fund a longer lockdown to halt the spread of the virus during which workers and small businessmen receive full financial support. The trade unions in France, Germany and elsewhere throughout Europe issued public endorsements of EU bailouts and backed the back-to-school campaign. As a result, there have been a staggering 265,891 COVID-19 deaths in the United States and 365,639 in Europe—figures set to rise explosively in the coming winter months.
Such levels of inequality are incompatible with democratic forms of rule, which are disintegrating. After trying to illegally deploy the military against nationwide protests on the police killing of George Floyd, US President Donald Trump has refused to admit defeat in the 2020 elections, ominously reshuffled the Pentagon leadership, and backed far-right militias that tried to assassinate top officials, including Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The Democratic Party has consciously avoided alerting the public, let alone making any attempt to mobilize popular opposition to the threatened coup.
In France and across Europe, far-right police states are being built. Pseudo-left parties like Mélenchon’s LFI are no alternative to the fascistic policy of de Villiers, which Macron is implementing with EU support. Macron has led the far-right turn, hailing Nazi-collaborationist dictator Philippe Pétain as a “great soldier” as he ordered riot police to assault the “yellow vests.” Mélenchon’s parliamentary faction itself supported the 2015-2017 Socialist Party (PS) state of emergency, during which the current police machine was prepared and first deployed against social protests targeting the draconian PS labor law.
These events confirm the analysis of the Parti de l’égalité socialiste (PES), the French section of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), in the 2017 presidential elections. It called for an active boycott and a mobilization of the working class against a second round between Macron and neofascist candidate Marine Le Pen.
The PES warned that rule by Macron was no genuine alternative to the far-right regime a neofascist president Le Pen would oversee. It opposed the reactionary role of pseudo-left groups like the LFI, which refused to warn against Macron’s own fascistic policy agenda. This has proven correct.
The way forward against the pandemic and the threat of dictatorship is the mobilization of the working class internationally on a socialist program. The struggle for an international general strike led by independent safety committees in schools and workplaces to compel an end to the back-to-work campaign and halt contagion entails a struggle against the far-right and police violence. Ruling elites that have made themselves guilty of crimes and reactionary plots against the population must be expropriated by the working class and their property impounded and used to meet social needs
Saturday, November 28, 2020
Analysis |
Killing Iran’s Nuke Chief May Hurt Israel More Than He Ever Did in His Life
There are two possible explanations to the timing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh’s killing. Both are tied to Biden’s inauguration on January 20, and both are extremely high-risk
Students of Iran's Basij paramilitary force set to burn U.S. and Israeli flags during a rally, Tehran, November 28, 2020
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, leader and key coordinator of Iran’s nuclear research, was assassinated north of Tehran on Friday morning, suffering a fate similar to other figures involved in Iran's nuclear program.
Fakhrizadeh has been a potential target for Israel, as well as other nations, for over a decade. It’s possible that the necessary intelligence and operational moment presented itself only now, but given the timing, it’s more likely that the unique window of opportunity was created by diplomatic circumstances.
Two assumptions have guided the work of Israeli intelligence in recent weeks. The first is that Iran will not embark on a drastic course until the regime has a clear idea of the Biden administration’s exact policy regarding a return to the 2015 nuclear agreement. The second is that there is a very low probability that Trump would launch a military campaign against Iran before he leaves office, as there are no signs of the United States boosting its defenses in the region ahead of a possibility of Iranian retaliation.
>> Trump might leave scorched earth on his way out. Netanyahu is happy to lend him a lighter | Noa Landau
But the Israeli military is not blasé about the prospect of a rapid escalation. In October, the military carried out a comprehensive exercise simulating the launch of long-range Iranian missiles at Israel. And as officers have sought to stress in recent days, even after the killing of Fakhrizadeh, while a full-blown military conflict is unlikely, the ongoing clandestine war has been stepped up.
ATTEMPTS TO UNDERMINE IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM
JANUARY 12, 2010
Senior Iranian nuclear scientist Prof. Massoud Ali Mohammadi assassinated in northern Tehran
SEPTEMBER 2010
A computer virus known as "Stuxnet" deployed against the operating systems of the Nantanz nuclear reactor
OCTOBER 29. 2010
The most senior scientist in the Iranian nuclear program at the time, Prof. Majid Shahariari, and another nuclear scientist are killed in two separate assassinations in Tehran
JULY 23, 2011
A physics professor involved in the Iranian nuclear program is killed by gunmen on motorcycles in Tehran
JANUARY 11, 2012
A chemistry expert who also served as deputy director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility was killed in an explosion in Tehran
JANUARY 31, 2018
Israel broke into a warehouse where documents from the Iranian nuclear program were hidden on the outskirts of Tehran and stole tens of thousands of secret documents
JUNE 26, 2020
Explosions rock Parchin, home to a military base where it was previously said that Iran conducts tests of explosive triggers that could be used in nuclear weapons
JUNE 30, 2020
An explosion at a missile production facility in Khojir, not far from Perchin, a base surrounded by underground tunnels believed by the West to have served as a large ammunitions depot. The base produces fuels to propel the Revolutionary Guards' ballistic missile apparatus.
JULY 2, 2020
Explosion at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility damages a structure containing advanced centrifuges. In the West, the explosion is attributed to Israel, and it is estimated that Iran's nuclear program is set back by one to two years as a result of the blast
JULY 19, 2020
Blast reported at a power plant in Isfahan, in central Iran
JULY 28, 2020
According to a report by the Iranian Student News Agency, an explosion of fuel tanks caused a fire in the Dolat industrial zone in the Kermanshah province in western Iran. The deputy commander of the province's firefighting services reported several injuries but no casaulties
NOVEMBER 27, 2020
Leader and key coordinator of Iran's nuclear program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, is assasinated near Tehran
If Israel is indeed behind the assassination of Fakhrizadeh, there will be no official confirmation in the foreseeable future. U.S. President Donald Trump, however, retweeted comments on the assassination by Haaretz colleague Yossi Melman, which many interpreted to mean that the killing was orchestrated by Israel with a hearty American blessing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, cryptically referred to “things I can’t tell you” in a video he uploaded this weekend.
There are two likely backstories to the timing behind the assassination. One, that Israel had opportunities in the past to kill Fakhrizadeh but refrained from doing so, either because it didn’t have American backing or because it saw no need to rock the boat. The regime in Israel, like in Tehran, is unclear about Biden’s Iran policy, and thus decided to take advantage of Trump’s last days in power.
The second explanation is that Israel assassinated Fakhrizadeh at the request of the United States. Israel may have possessed the capabilities and intel to kill him for a while but wasn’t eager to, fearing severe repercussions, and because ultimately the death of one man, albeit the “Father,” would do little damage to an already-advanced nuclear program. In this scenario, Israel acted at the urging of the Iran hawks in the Trump administration who are trying to make it harder for their successors to engage with Iran.
There is recent precedent for this in the killing of Al-Qaida leader Abu Muhammad al-Masri this August in Tehran, which according to The New York Times, was carried out by Mossad, at the CIA’s request. Israeli intelligence officials have stated that normally, al-Masri wouldn’t be seen as a target worthy of the considerable resources and risk involved in an assassination in Tehran, but when the Americans ask, Israel says yes.
Both possibilities involve a troubling degree of risk. If Netanyahu, his Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen and whatever cabinet ministers are in on the secret believe that now is the time to take out high-value targets, then they are banking firstly on the Iranians to self-restrain, for fear of either provoking Trump or missing out on a new deal with Biden, and secondly on Joe Biden’s team to draw a line under what happened before he came to office.
Is this assassination (or any other operation in Netanyahu’s repertoire) worth the risk that the more cautious members in Iran's leadership may lose the argument and decide to retaliate after all? And once the window of opportunity closes on January 20, will Joe Biden and his staff shut Israel out of consultations, having had enough of Netanyahu dictating U.S policy? If so, Fakhrizadeh may end up causing more damage to Israel in his death than he ever did in his life.
Killing Iran’s Nuke Chief May Hurt Israel More Than He Ever Did in His Life
There are two possible explanations to the timing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh’s killing. Both are tied to Biden’s inauguration on January 20, and both are extremely high-risk
Students of Iran's Basij paramilitary force set to burn U.S. and Israeli flags during a rally, Tehran, November 28, 2020
Credit: ATTA KENARE - AFP
Anshel Pfeffer
Anshel Pfeffer
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, leader and key coordinator of Iran’s nuclear research, was assassinated north of Tehran on Friday morning, suffering a fate similar to other figures involved in Iran's nuclear program.
Fakhrizadeh has been a potential target for Israel, as well as other nations, for over a decade. It’s possible that the necessary intelligence and operational moment presented itself only now, but given the timing, it’s more likely that the unique window of opportunity was created by diplomatic circumstances.
Two assumptions have guided the work of Israeli intelligence in recent weeks. The first is that Iran will not embark on a drastic course until the regime has a clear idea of the Biden administration’s exact policy regarding a return to the 2015 nuclear agreement. The second is that there is a very low probability that Trump would launch a military campaign against Iran before he leaves office, as there are no signs of the United States boosting its defenses in the region ahead of a possibility of Iranian retaliation.
>> Trump might leave scorched earth on his way out. Netanyahu is happy to lend him a lighter | Noa Landau
But the Israeli military is not blasé about the prospect of a rapid escalation. In October, the military carried out a comprehensive exercise simulating the launch of long-range Iranian missiles at Israel. And as officers have sought to stress in recent days, even after the killing of Fakhrizadeh, while a full-blown military conflict is unlikely, the ongoing clandestine war has been stepped up.
ATTEMPTS TO UNDERMINE IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM
JANUARY 12, 2010
Senior Iranian nuclear scientist Prof. Massoud Ali Mohammadi assassinated in northern Tehran
SEPTEMBER 2010
A computer virus known as "Stuxnet" deployed against the operating systems of the Nantanz nuclear reactor
OCTOBER 29. 2010
The most senior scientist in the Iranian nuclear program at the time, Prof. Majid Shahariari, and another nuclear scientist are killed in two separate assassinations in Tehran
JULY 23, 2011
A physics professor involved in the Iranian nuclear program is killed by gunmen on motorcycles in Tehran
JANUARY 11, 2012
A chemistry expert who also served as deputy director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility was killed in an explosion in Tehran
JANUARY 31, 2018
Israel broke into a warehouse where documents from the Iranian nuclear program were hidden on the outskirts of Tehran and stole tens of thousands of secret documents
JUNE 26, 2020
Explosions rock Parchin, home to a military base where it was previously said that Iran conducts tests of explosive triggers that could be used in nuclear weapons
JUNE 30, 2020
An explosion at a missile production facility in Khojir, not far from Perchin, a base surrounded by underground tunnels believed by the West to have served as a large ammunitions depot. The base produces fuels to propel the Revolutionary Guards' ballistic missile apparatus.
JULY 2, 2020
Explosion at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility damages a structure containing advanced centrifuges. In the West, the explosion is attributed to Israel, and it is estimated that Iran's nuclear program is set back by one to two years as a result of the blast
JULY 19, 2020
Blast reported at a power plant in Isfahan, in central Iran
JULY 28, 2020
According to a report by the Iranian Student News Agency, an explosion of fuel tanks caused a fire in the Dolat industrial zone in the Kermanshah province in western Iran. The deputy commander of the province's firefighting services reported several injuries but no casaulties
NOVEMBER 27, 2020
Leader and key coordinator of Iran's nuclear program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, is assasinated near Tehran
If Israel is indeed behind the assassination of Fakhrizadeh, there will be no official confirmation in the foreseeable future. U.S. President Donald Trump, however, retweeted comments on the assassination by Haaretz colleague Yossi Melman, which many interpreted to mean that the killing was orchestrated by Israel with a hearty American blessing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, cryptically referred to “things I can’t tell you” in a video he uploaded this weekend.
There are two likely backstories to the timing behind the assassination. One, that Israel had opportunities in the past to kill Fakhrizadeh but refrained from doing so, either because it didn’t have American backing or because it saw no need to rock the boat. The regime in Israel, like in Tehran, is unclear about Biden’s Iran policy, and thus decided to take advantage of Trump’s last days in power.
The second explanation is that Israel assassinated Fakhrizadeh at the request of the United States. Israel may have possessed the capabilities and intel to kill him for a while but wasn’t eager to, fearing severe repercussions, and because ultimately the death of one man, albeit the “Father,” would do little damage to an already-advanced nuclear program. In this scenario, Israel acted at the urging of the Iran hawks in the Trump administration who are trying to make it harder for their successors to engage with Iran.
There is recent precedent for this in the killing of Al-Qaida leader Abu Muhammad al-Masri this August in Tehran, which according to The New York Times, was carried out by Mossad, at the CIA’s request. Israeli intelligence officials have stated that normally, al-Masri wouldn’t be seen as a target worthy of the considerable resources and risk involved in an assassination in Tehran, but when the Americans ask, Israel says yes.
Both possibilities involve a troubling degree of risk. If Netanyahu, his Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen and whatever cabinet ministers are in on the secret believe that now is the time to take out high-value targets, then they are banking firstly on the Iranians to self-restrain, for fear of either provoking Trump or missing out on a new deal with Biden, and secondly on Joe Biden’s team to draw a line under what happened before he came to office.
Is this assassination (or any other operation in Netanyahu’s repertoire) worth the risk that the more cautious members in Iran's leadership may lose the argument and decide to retaliate after all? And once the window of opportunity closes on January 20, will Joe Biden and his staff shut Israel out of consultations, having had enough of Netanyahu dictating U.S policy? If so, Fakhrizadeh may end up causing more damage to Israel in his death than he ever did in his life.
Will the world community condemn the murder of Iran’s nuclear scientist?
The assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, likely by Israel with the go-ahead from the US administration, is a desperate attempt to use Donald Trump’s last days in office to sabotage Joe Biden’s chances of successful diplomacy with Iran.
The assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, likely by Israel with the go-ahead from the US administration, is a desperate attempt to use Donald Trump’s last days in office to sabotage Joe Biden’s chances of successful diplomacy with Iran.
THE SITE OF MOHSEN FAKHRIZADEH’S ASSASSINATION, NOVEMBER 27, 2020
(PHOTO: FARS NEWS AGENCY/WIKIMEDIA)
Israel used all four years of Trump’s presidency to entrench its systems of occupation and apartheid. Now that Joe Biden has won the U.S. election, the assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, likely by Israel with the go-ahead from the US administration, is a desperate attempt to use Trump’s last days in office to sabotage Biden’s chances of successful diplomacy with Iran. Biden, Congress and the world community can’t let that happen.
On Friday, November 27, Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was assassinated in the Iranian city of Absard outside of Tehran. First, a truck with explosives blew up near the car carrying Fakhrizadeh. Then, gunmen started firing on Fakhrizadeh’s car. The immediate speculation was that Israel had carried out the attack, perhaps with the support of the Iranian terrorist group the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (MEK). Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted that there were “serious indications of [an] Israeli role” in the assassination.
All indications indeed point to Israel. In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu identified this scientist, Fakhrizadeh, as a target of his administration during a presentation in which he claimed that Israel had obtained secret Iranian files that alleged the country was not actually abiding by the Iran Nuclear Deal. “Remember that name, Fakhrizadeh. So here’s his directive, right here,” Netanyahu said.
Fakhrizadeh was far from the first assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist. Between 2010 and 2012, four Iranian nuclear scientists were assassinated—Masoud Alimohammadi, Majid Shahriari, Darioush Rezaeinejad and Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan. Though Israel never took official credit for the extrajudicial executions, reports were fairly conclusive that Israel, working with the MEK, were behind the killings. The Israeli government never denied the allegations.
The assassination of Fakhrizadeh also follows reports that the Israeli government recently instructed its senior military officials to prepare for a possible U.S. strike on Iran, likely referring to a narrowly averted plan by President Trump to bomb Iran’s Natanz nuclear site. Furthermore, there was a clandestine meeting between Netanyahu and Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman. Among the topics of conversation were normalization between the two countries and their shared antagonism towards Iran.
Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear activities are particularly galling given that Israel, not Iran, is the only country in the Middle East in possession of nuclear weapons, and Israel refuses to sign the International Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Iran, on the other hand, doesn’t have nuclear weapons and it has opened itself up to the most intrusive international inspections ever implemented. Adding to this absurd double standard is the intense pressure on Iran from the United States—a nation that has more nuclear weapons than any country on earth.
Given the close relationship between Netanyahu and Trump, and the seriousness of this attack, it is very likely that this assassination was carried out with the green light from Trump himself. Trump has spent his time in the White House destroying the progress the Obama administration made in easing the conflict with Iran. He withdrew from the nuclear deal and imposed an unending stream of crippling sanctions that have affected everything from the price of food and housing, to Iran’s ability to obtain life-saving medicines during the pandemic. He has blocked Iran from getting an IMF $5 billion emergency loan to deal with the pandemic. In January, Trump brought the US to the brink of war by assassinating Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, and in an early November meeting with his top security advisors, and right before the assassination of Fakhrizadeh, Trump himself reportedly raised the possibility of a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
After the news broke of the assassination, Trump expressed implicit approval of the attack by retweeting Israeli journalist and expert on the Israeli Mossad intelligence service, Yossi Melman, who described the killing of Fahkrizadeh as a “major psychological and professional blow for Iran.”
Iran has responded to these intense provocations with extreme patience and reserve. The government was hoping for a change in the White House and Biden’s victory signaled the possibility of both the U.S. and Iran going back into compliance with the nuclear deal. This recent assassination, however, further strengthens the hands of Iranian hardliners who say it was a mistake to negotiate with the United States, and that Iran should just leave the nuclear deal and build a nuclear weapon for its own defense.
Iranian-American analyst Negar Mortazavi bemoaned the chilling effect the assassination will have on Iran’s political space. “The atmosphere will be even more securitized, civil society and political opposition will be pressured even more, and the anti-West discourse will be strengthened in Iran’s upcoming presidential election,” she tweeted.
The hardliners already won the majority of seats in the February parliamentary elections and are predicted to win the presidential elections scheduled for June. So the window for negotiations is a narrow one of four months immediately after Biden’s inauguration. W. What happens between now and January 20 could derail negotiations before they even start.
Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council, said that US and Israeli efforts to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program “have now morphed into Trump & Netanyahu sabotaging the next US President. They are trying to goad Iran into provocations & accelerating nuclear work—exactly what they claim to oppose. Their real fear is US & Iran talking.”
That’s why U.S. members of Congress, and President-elect Joe Biden himself, must vigorously condemn this act and affirm their commitment to the US rejoining the nuclear deal. When Israel assassinated other nuclear scientists during the Obama administration, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced the murders, understanding that such illegal actions made negotiations infinitely more difficult.
The European Union, as well as some important US figures, have already condemned the attack. Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy pointed out the risks involved in normalizing assassinations, how the killing will make it harder to restart the Iran Nuclear agreement, and how the assassination of General Soleimani backfired from a security standpoint. Former Obama advisor Ben Rhodes tweeted that it was an “outrageous action aimed at undermining diplomacy,” and former CIA head John Brennan called the assassination “criminal” and “highly reckless,” risking “lethal retaliation and a new round of regional conflict,” but rather than putting the responsibility on the U.S. and Israel to stop the provocations, he called on Iran to “be wise” and “resist the urge to respond.”
Many on Twitter have raised the question of what the world response would be if the roles were reversed and Iran assassinated an Israeli nuclear scientist. Without a doubt, the U.S. administration, whether Democrat or Republican, would be outraged and supportive of a swift military response. But if we want to avoid escalation, then we must hope that Iran will not retaliate, at least not during Trump’s last days in office.
The only way to stop this crisis from spiraling out of control is for the world community to condemn the act, and demand a UN investigation and accountability for the perpetrators. The countries that joined Iran and the United States in signing the 2015 nuclear agreement —Russia, China, Germany, the UK and France—must not only oppose the assassination but publicly recommit to upholding the nuclear deal. President-elect Joe Biden must send a clear message to Israel that under his administration, these illegal acts will have consequences. He must also send a clear message to Iran that he intends to quickly re-enter the nuclear deal, stop blocking Iran’s $5 billion IMF loan request, and begin a new era of diplomacy to dial back the intense conflict he inherited from Trump’s recklessness.
BY MEDEA BENJAMIN AND ARIEL GOLD
Israel used all four years of Trump’s presidency to entrench its systems of occupation and apartheid. Now that Joe Biden has won the U.S. election, the assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, likely by Israel with the go-ahead from the US administration, is a desperate attempt to use Trump’s last days in office to sabotage Biden’s chances of successful diplomacy with Iran. Biden, Congress and the world community can’t let that happen.
On Friday, November 27, Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was assassinated in the Iranian city of Absard outside of Tehran. First, a truck with explosives blew up near the car carrying Fakhrizadeh. Then, gunmen started firing on Fakhrizadeh’s car. The immediate speculation was that Israel had carried out the attack, perhaps with the support of the Iranian terrorist group the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (MEK). Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted that there were “serious indications of [an] Israeli role” in the assassination.
All indications indeed point to Israel. In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu identified this scientist, Fakhrizadeh, as a target of his administration during a presentation in which he claimed that Israel had obtained secret Iranian files that alleged the country was not actually abiding by the Iran Nuclear Deal. “Remember that name, Fakhrizadeh. So here’s his directive, right here,” Netanyahu said.
Fakhrizadeh was far from the first assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist. Between 2010 and 2012, four Iranian nuclear scientists were assassinated—Masoud Alimohammadi, Majid Shahriari, Darioush Rezaeinejad and Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan. Though Israel never took official credit for the extrajudicial executions, reports were fairly conclusive that Israel, working with the MEK, were behind the killings. The Israeli government never denied the allegations.
The assassination of Fakhrizadeh also follows reports that the Israeli government recently instructed its senior military officials to prepare for a possible U.S. strike on Iran, likely referring to a narrowly averted plan by President Trump to bomb Iran’s Natanz nuclear site. Furthermore, there was a clandestine meeting between Netanyahu and Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman. Among the topics of conversation were normalization between the two countries and their shared antagonism towards Iran.
Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear activities are particularly galling given that Israel, not Iran, is the only country in the Middle East in possession of nuclear weapons, and Israel refuses to sign the International Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Iran, on the other hand, doesn’t have nuclear weapons and it has opened itself up to the most intrusive international inspections ever implemented. Adding to this absurd double standard is the intense pressure on Iran from the United States—a nation that has more nuclear weapons than any country on earth.
Given the close relationship between Netanyahu and Trump, and the seriousness of this attack, it is very likely that this assassination was carried out with the green light from Trump himself. Trump has spent his time in the White House destroying the progress the Obama administration made in easing the conflict with Iran. He withdrew from the nuclear deal and imposed an unending stream of crippling sanctions that have affected everything from the price of food and housing, to Iran’s ability to obtain life-saving medicines during the pandemic. He has blocked Iran from getting an IMF $5 billion emergency loan to deal with the pandemic. In January, Trump brought the US to the brink of war by assassinating Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, and in an early November meeting with his top security advisors, and right before the assassination of Fakhrizadeh, Trump himself reportedly raised the possibility of a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
After the news broke of the assassination, Trump expressed implicit approval of the attack by retweeting Israeli journalist and expert on the Israeli Mossad intelligence service, Yossi Melman, who described the killing of Fahkrizadeh as a “major psychological and professional blow for Iran.”
Iran has responded to these intense provocations with extreme patience and reserve. The government was hoping for a change in the White House and Biden’s victory signaled the possibility of both the U.S. and Iran going back into compliance with the nuclear deal. This recent assassination, however, further strengthens the hands of Iranian hardliners who say it was a mistake to negotiate with the United States, and that Iran should just leave the nuclear deal and build a nuclear weapon for its own defense.
Iranian-American analyst Negar Mortazavi bemoaned the chilling effect the assassination will have on Iran’s political space. “The atmosphere will be even more securitized, civil society and political opposition will be pressured even more, and the anti-West discourse will be strengthened in Iran’s upcoming presidential election,” she tweeted.
The hardliners already won the majority of seats in the February parliamentary elections and are predicted to win the presidential elections scheduled for June. So the window for negotiations is a narrow one of four months immediately after Biden’s inauguration. W. What happens between now and January 20 could derail negotiations before they even start.
Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council, said that US and Israeli efforts to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program “have now morphed into Trump & Netanyahu sabotaging the next US President. They are trying to goad Iran into provocations & accelerating nuclear work—exactly what they claim to oppose. Their real fear is US & Iran talking.”
That’s why U.S. members of Congress, and President-elect Joe Biden himself, must vigorously condemn this act and affirm their commitment to the US rejoining the nuclear deal. When Israel assassinated other nuclear scientists during the Obama administration, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced the murders, understanding that such illegal actions made negotiations infinitely more difficult.
The European Union, as well as some important US figures, have already condemned the attack. Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy pointed out the risks involved in normalizing assassinations, how the killing will make it harder to restart the Iran Nuclear agreement, and how the assassination of General Soleimani backfired from a security standpoint. Former Obama advisor Ben Rhodes tweeted that it was an “outrageous action aimed at undermining diplomacy,” and former CIA head John Brennan called the assassination “criminal” and “highly reckless,” risking “lethal retaliation and a new round of regional conflict,” but rather than putting the responsibility on the U.S. and Israel to stop the provocations, he called on Iran to “be wise” and “resist the urge to respond.”
Many on Twitter have raised the question of what the world response would be if the roles were reversed and Iran assassinated an Israeli nuclear scientist. Without a doubt, the U.S. administration, whether Democrat or Republican, would be outraged and supportive of a swift military response. But if we want to avoid escalation, then we must hope that Iran will not retaliate, at least not during Trump’s last days in office.
The only way to stop this crisis from spiraling out of control is for the world community to condemn the act, and demand a UN investigation and accountability for the perpetrators. The countries that joined Iran and the United States in signing the 2015 nuclear agreement —Russia, China, Germany, the UK and France—must not only oppose the assassination but publicly recommit to upholding the nuclear deal. President-elect Joe Biden must send a clear message to Israel that under his administration, these illegal acts will have consequences. He must also send a clear message to Iran that he intends to quickly re-enter the nuclear deal, stop blocking Iran’s $5 billion IMF loan request, and begin a new era of diplomacy to dial back the intense conflict he inherited from Trump’s recklessness.
Turkey describes killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh as ‘act of terrorism’ while the EU calls it ‘criminal’ and urges ‘maximum restraint’.
Prominent Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh is seen in Iran, in this undated photo
[File: Official Khamenei Website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout/Reuters]
28 Nov 2020
A high-ranking Iranian nuclear physicist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was assassinated in an ambush near Iran’s capital, Tehran, on Friday.
Fakhrizadeh was shot “by terrorists” in his vehicle in Absard, a suburb in eastern Tehran, later succumbing to his wounds in what was described as a “martyr’s death”, according to Iran’s foreign ministry.
A high-ranking Iranian nuclear physicist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was assassinated in an ambush near Iran’s capital, Tehran, on Friday.
Fakhrizadeh was shot “by terrorists” in his vehicle in Absard, a suburb in eastern Tehran, later succumbing to his wounds in what was described as a “martyr’s death”, according to Iran’s foreign ministry.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the killing of Fakhrizadeh, who had long been suspected by Western and Israeli intelligence of leading the nation’s military nuclear programme until its disbanding in the early 2000s.
But some have pointed the finger at Israel and the United States for the assassination, which threatens to increase tensions between Tehran and Washington in the final days of the Donald Trump presidency.
Here is how the world has reacted so far to Fakhrizadeh’s killing:
Iran
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei said Iran’s first priority after the killing was the “definitive punishment of the perpetrators and those who ordered it”, while President Hassan Rouhani accused Israel of being behind the assassination.
“Once again, the evil hands of global arrogance were stained with the blood of the mercenary usurper Zionist regime,” Rouhani said in a statement.
The country’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also accused Israel of carrying out the attack.
Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today. This cowardice—with serious indications of Israeli role—shows desperate warmongering of perpetrators
Iran calls on int'l community—and especially EU—to end their shameful double standards & condemn this act of state terror.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) November 27, 2020
Israel
Cabinet minister for Settlement Affairs Tzachi Hanegbi said he had “no clue” who was behind the Fakhrizadeh killing.
“I have no clue who did it. It’s not that my lips are sealed because I’m being responsible, I really have no clue,” Hanegbi, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told N12’s Meet the Press.
European Union
A statement from a spokesperson for the European Union called Fakhrizadeh’s killing “a criminal act” that “runs counter to the principle of respect for human rights the EU stands for”.
It also urged all parties to show “calm and maximum restraint”.
“In these uncertain times, it is more important than ever for all parties to remain calm and exercise maximum restraint in order to avoid escalation which cannot be in anyone’s interest,” the statement said.
Qatar
Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani condemned the assassination in a phone call with Zarif.
In the phone call, Sheikh Mohammed said “such steps will only contribute to pouring more fuel on the fire at a time when the region and the international community are searching for ways to reduce tension and return to the table of dialogue and diplomacy”, according to QNA, Qatar’s state news agency.
He also extended Qatar’s condolences to the government and the people of Iran and called for self-restraint.
Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani condemned the assassination in a phone call with Zarif.
In the phone call, Sheikh Mohammed said “such steps will only contribute to pouring more fuel on the fire at a time when the region and the international community are searching for ways to reduce tension and return to the table of dialogue and diplomacy”, according to QNA, Qatar’s state news agency.
He also extended Qatar’s condolences to the government and the people of Iran and called for self-restraint.
United Nations
The UN condemned Fakhrizadeh’s killing while urging restraint in order to avoid an “escalation of tensions”.
“We urge restraint and the need to avoid any actions that could lead to an escalation of tensions in the region,” a UN spokesman said. “We condemn any assassination or extrajudicial killing.”
Syria
Syria’s Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad accused Israel and “those who supported it” of being behind Fakhrizadeh’s assassination, an act he said would only fuel more tensions in the region.
Mekdad was quoted by state media as telling the Iranian envoy in Damascus that Syria was confident Iran would confront what he called a “terrorist act”.
Turkey
Turkey’s parliamentary speaker referred to those responsible for the killing as “terrorist”.
“The assassination of the Iranian scientist was an act of terrorism. Whether it was committed by an illegal or a “legal” organization or a state makes no difference,” Mustafa Sentop said on Twitter.
Assassination of an Iranian scientist is an act of terrorism. Whether it is committed by an illegal or a “legal” organization or a State makes no difference. Terrorism is always terrorism, anyone who commits an act of terrorism is a terrorist. We oppose illegality in intl. arena.
— Prof. Dr. Mustafa Şentop (@MustafaSentop) November 28, 2020
Germany
Germany called for calm and said all sides should avoid taking any steps that could lead to escalation.
“We call on all parties to avoid taking any action which could lead to a new escalation of the situation” which “we absolutely do not need at this moment,” a German foreign ministry spokesman said.
Venezuela
Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Arreaza condemned the attack on Twitter, calling the killing of the scientist a “terrorist attack”.
#COMUNICADO | Venezuela condena el asesinato del eminente científico iraní, Dr. Mohsen Fajrizade, Presidente de la Organización de Investigación e Innovación Defensiva de la República Islámica de Irán, quien perdió la vida en un atentado terrorista en las cercanías de Teherán. pic.twitter.com/hWQDvLGESS
— Jorge Arreaza M (@jaarreaza) November 27, 2020
SOURCE : AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
Killing of Iranian scientist a ‘violation of human rights’: Qatar
Qatar’s deputy PM says assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh ‘will only contribute to pouring more fuel on the fire’.
Qatar’s deputy PM says assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh ‘will only contribute to pouring more fuel on the fire’.
Qatar's Deputy Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani expressed his condolences in a phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
[File: Erin Scott/AFP]
28 Nov 2020
Qatar has condemned Friday’s assassination of Iranian nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, calling it “a clear violation of human rights”.
Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani expressed his condolences in a phone call on Saturday with Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Qatar has condemned Friday’s assassination of Iranian nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, calling it “a clear violation of human rights”.
Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani expressed his condolences in a phone call on Saturday with Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif.
KEEP READING
Top Iranian nuclear scientist assassinated near TehranMohsen Fakhrizadeh: Who was the assassinated Iranian scientist?
Rouhani accuses ‘mercenary’ Israel of killing top Iran scientist
Iranian media reported on Friday that Fakhrizadeh died in hospital after he was shot in his car in an ambush east of Tehran.
Fakhrizadeh served as the head of the research and innovation organisation of Iran’s defence ministry at the time of his death.
The West has long suspected Fakhrizadeh of being the mastermind of Iranian efforts to develop nuclear weapons, but Iran denies he was involved in any such undertaking.
Al Thani stressed that the scientist’s murder “will only contribute to pouring more fuel on the fire at a time when the region and the international community are searching for ways to reduce tension and return to the table of dialogue and diplomacy”, Qatar news agency (QNA) e
Al Thani “called for restraint,” it said.
During the call, the ministers reviewed bilateral cooperation relations and issues of common concern, QNA reported.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has accused “mercenary” Israel of killing its top scientist, state TV reported on Saturday.
Israel has declined to comment on the killing of Fakhrizadeh.
The assassination comes as US President Donald Trump, who has been fervently backed by Israel in his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, is slated to leave office in less than two months after losing the presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.
In May 2018, Trump unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and imposed harsh economic sanctions on Iran that have only escalated since.
In the past year, the Trump administration has also tried to make it harder for a Biden administration to come back to the nuclear accord through retargeting Iranian entities and individuals that were already sanctioned with new terrorism-related designations.
Iranian media reported on Friday that Fakhrizadeh died in hospital after he was shot in his car in an ambush east of Tehran.
Fakhrizadeh served as the head of the research and innovation organisation of Iran’s defence ministry at the time of his death.
The West has long suspected Fakhrizadeh of being the mastermind of Iranian efforts to develop nuclear weapons, but Iran denies he was involved in any such undertaking.
Al Thani stressed that the scientist’s murder “will only contribute to pouring more fuel on the fire at a time when the region and the international community are searching for ways to reduce tension and return to the table of dialogue and diplomacy”, Qatar news agency (QNA) e
Al Thani “called for restraint,” it said.
During the call, the ministers reviewed bilateral cooperation relations and issues of common concern, QNA reported.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has accused “mercenary” Israel of killing its top scientist, state TV reported on Saturday.
Israel has declined to comment on the killing of Fakhrizadeh.
The assassination comes as US President Donald Trump, who has been fervently backed by Israel in his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, is slated to leave office in less than two months after losing the presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.
In May 2018, Trump unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and imposed harsh economic sanctions on Iran that have only escalated since.
In the past year, the Trump administration has also tried to make it harder for a Biden administration to come back to the nuclear accord through retargeting Iranian entities and individuals that were already sanctioned with new terrorism-related designations.
SOURCE : AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh: Who was the assassinated Iranian scientist?
Iranian scientist widely seen by Western intelligence as mastermind behind Iran’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
27 Nov 2020
Prominent Iranian military scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, killed in an attack outside Tehran on Friday, was widely seen by Western intelligence as the mastermind of clandestine Iranian efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran denies Fakhrizadeh was involved in any such undertaking and that it ever tried to weaponise uranium enrichment for nuclear energy.
But he is widely thought to have headed what the United Nations atomic watchdog and United States intelligence services believe was a coordinated nuclear arms programme that was halted in 2003.
What is known about him?
Western officials and experts believe Fakhrizadeh played a pivotal role in past Iranian work to devise the means to assemble a nuclear warhead behind the facade of a declared civilian uranium enrichment programme.
Iran denies ever having sought to develop a nuclear weapon.
He lived in the shadows under high security and was never made available to UN nuclear investigators.
Fakhrizadeh rarely – if ever – surfaced in public and few outside Iran know with any certainty what he looked like, let alone had met him.
He has the rare distinction of being the only Iranian scientist named in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 2015 “final assessment” of open questions about Iran’s nuclear programme and whether it was aimed at developing a bomb.
The UN non-proliferation watchdog’s report said he oversaw activities “in support of a possible military dimension to [Iran’s] nuclear programme” within the so-called AMAD Plan.
A 2011 IAEA report described him as the AMAD Plan’s “Executive Officer”, a central figure in suspected Iranian work to develop technology and skills needed for atomic bombs, and suggested he may still have a role in such activity.
Israel has also described the AMAD Plan as Iran’s covert nuclear weapons programme, and says it seized a large chunk of an Iranian nuclear “archive” detailing its work.
In an April 2018 televised presentation about the archive, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named Fakhrizadeh as a leading figure in what he described as secret nuclear weapons work conducted under the guise of a civilian programme.
Iranian scientist widely seen by Western intelligence as mastermind behind Iran’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, right, sits alongside two unidentified men in a meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, January 23, 2019
[File: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP]
27 Nov 2020
Prominent Iranian military scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, killed in an attack outside Tehran on Friday, was widely seen by Western intelligence as the mastermind of clandestine Iranian efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran denies Fakhrizadeh was involved in any such undertaking and that it ever tried to weaponise uranium enrichment for nuclear energy.
But he is widely thought to have headed what the United Nations atomic watchdog and United States intelligence services believe was a coordinated nuclear arms programme that was halted in 2003.
What is known about him?
Western officials and experts believe Fakhrizadeh played a pivotal role in past Iranian work to devise the means to assemble a nuclear warhead behind the facade of a declared civilian uranium enrichment programme.
Iran denies ever having sought to develop a nuclear weapon.
He lived in the shadows under high security and was never made available to UN nuclear investigators.
Fakhrizadeh rarely – if ever – surfaced in public and few outside Iran know with any certainty what he looked like, let alone had met him.
He has the rare distinction of being the only Iranian scientist named in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 2015 “final assessment” of open questions about Iran’s nuclear programme and whether it was aimed at developing a bomb.
The UN non-proliferation watchdog’s report said he oversaw activities “in support of a possible military dimension to [Iran’s] nuclear programme” within the so-called AMAD Plan.
A 2011 IAEA report described him as the AMAD Plan’s “Executive Officer”, a central figure in suspected Iranian work to develop technology and skills needed for atomic bombs, and suggested he may still have a role in such activity.
Israel has also described the AMAD Plan as Iran’s covert nuclear weapons programme, and says it seized a large chunk of an Iranian nuclear “archive” detailing its work.
In an April 2018 televised presentation about the archive, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named Fakhrizadeh as a leading figure in what he described as secret nuclear weapons work conducted under the guise of a civilian programme.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands by a screen with an image of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh during a news conference in April 2018 at the Ministry of Defence in Tel Aviv [File: Amir Cohen/Reuters]Citing the archive as evidence, Netanyahu said Israeli agents had retrieved lots of documents from a site in Tehran. At the time, Iran said the documents were fake.
“Remember that name, Fakhrizadeh,” Netanyahu said, describing Fakhrizadeh as the head of AMAD.
Netanyahu said that after AMAD was shut down Fakhrizadeh continued working at an agency within Iran’s Defence Ministry on “special projects”.
In 2018, Israeli broadcaster Kan carried an interview with former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in which he hinted Fakhrizadeh could be a target.
“I know Fakhrizadeh well. He doesn’t know how well I know him. If I met him in the streets most likely I would recognise him,” he said.
“He does not have immunity, he did not have immunity, and I don’t think he will have immunity.”
What does Iran say?
Iran’s defence ministry on Friday identified Fakhrizadeh as Head of Research and Innovation Organization at the ministry. He was also believed to be a senior officer in the elite Revolutionary Guard.
The IAEA long wanted to query Fakhrizadeh as part of a protracted investigation into whether Iran carried out illicit nuclear weapons research.
Iran acknowledged Fakhrizadeh’s existence several years ago but said he was an army officer not involved in the nuclear programme, according to a diplomatic source with knowledge of the matter.
The assassination of four Iranian scientists associated with the nuclear programme between 2010 and 2012 may have stiffened Tehran’s resolve not to give the IAEA access to Fakhrizadeh – for fear this could lead to information about him and his whereabouts leaking.
Iran accused its arch-adversaries – the United States and Israel – of being behind the killings.
Fakhrizadeh was also believed to have been involved in Iran’s ballistic missile development, and an Iranian source told Reuters he was considered as the father of that programme.
He was named in a 2007 UN resolution on Iran as a person involved in nuclear or ballistic missile activities.
What is known about his background?
In May 2011, the exiled opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) issued a report with what it said was a photograph of Fakhrizadeh, with dark hair and beard stubble.
It was not possible to independently verify the picture.
The NCRI said in the report that Fakhrizadeh was born in 1958 in the Shia Muslim holy city of Qom, was a deputy defence minister and a Revolutionary Guard brigadier-general, held a nuclear engineering doctorate and taught at Iran’s University of Imam Hussein.
A high-ranking Iranian source described Fakhrizadeh to Reuters news agency in 2014 as “an asset and an expert” dedicated to Iran’s technological progress and enjoying the full support of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The source added that Fakhrizadeh had three passports and he travelled a lot, including in Asia, to obtain “the latest information” from abroad, but would not elaborate.
“Remember that name, Fakhrizadeh,” Netanyahu said, describing Fakhrizadeh as the head of AMAD.
Netanyahu said that after AMAD was shut down Fakhrizadeh continued working at an agency within Iran’s Defence Ministry on “special projects”.
In 2018, Israeli broadcaster Kan carried an interview with former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in which he hinted Fakhrizadeh could be a target.
“I know Fakhrizadeh well. He doesn’t know how well I know him. If I met him in the streets most likely I would recognise him,” he said.
“He does not have immunity, he did not have immunity, and I don’t think he will have immunity.”
What does Iran say?
Iran’s defence ministry on Friday identified Fakhrizadeh as Head of Research and Innovation Organization at the ministry. He was also believed to be a senior officer in the elite Revolutionary Guard.
The IAEA long wanted to query Fakhrizadeh as part of a protracted investigation into whether Iran carried out illicit nuclear weapons research.
Iran acknowledged Fakhrizadeh’s existence several years ago but said he was an army officer not involved in the nuclear programme, according to a diplomatic source with knowledge of the matter.
The assassination of four Iranian scientists associated with the nuclear programme between 2010 and 2012 may have stiffened Tehran’s resolve not to give the IAEA access to Fakhrizadeh – for fear this could lead to information about him and his whereabouts leaking.
Iran accused its arch-adversaries – the United States and Israel – of being behind the killings.
Fakhrizadeh was also believed to have been involved in Iran’s ballistic missile development, and an Iranian source told Reuters he was considered as the father of that programme.
He was named in a 2007 UN resolution on Iran as a person involved in nuclear or ballistic missile activities.
What is known about his background?
In May 2011, the exiled opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) issued a report with what it said was a photograph of Fakhrizadeh, with dark hair and beard stubble.
It was not possible to independently verify the picture.
The NCRI said in the report that Fakhrizadeh was born in 1958 in the Shia Muslim holy city of Qom, was a deputy defence minister and a Revolutionary Guard brigadier-general, held a nuclear engineering doctorate and taught at Iran’s University of Imam Hussein.
A high-ranking Iranian source described Fakhrizadeh to Reuters news agency in 2014 as “an asset and an expert” dedicated to Iran’s technological progress and enjoying the full support of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The source added that Fakhrizadeh had three passports and he travelled a lot, including in Asia, to obtain “the latest information” from abroad, but would not elaborate.
SOURCE : REUTERS
Iran's top nuclear scientist stayed in shadows but his work was uncovered
By Francois Murphy, Parisa Hafezi
VIENNA/DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was killed on Friday, led a life of such secrecy that even his age was under wraps but much about the clandestine nuclear weapons programme he is believed to have run has long been known.
The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it suspected Fakhrizadeh oversaw secret work to fit a warhead on a ballistic missile, test high explosives suitable for a nuclear weapon and process uranium.
Iran insists it never had such a programme nor any ambition to make a bomb. The IAEA and U.S. intelligence agencies believe it had a coordinated weapons programme that it halted in 2003.
Western suspicions that Iran would resume that programme were at the heart of the deal struck in a 2015 deal under which Tehran agreed with world powers to curb its nuclear work in return for the lifting of sanctions.
Israel, Iran’s arch foe, staunchly opposed that deal and President Donald Trump pulled out of it in 2018.
The killing of Fakhrizadeh is a blow to Iran given he was closely guarded and shielded from the public. But Iranian officials say Iran has a network of scientists to fill any gap.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s top authority, promised on Saturday to retaliate for Fakhrizadeh’s killing and said officials must continue to pursue “scientific and technical efforts of Martyr Fakhrizadeh in all the fields he was engaged.”
Iran ramped up nuclear work after Washington quit the 2015 deal, exceeding limits set by the agreement on production of enriched uranium - which can be refined into bomb material - although Tehran still has far less than its pre-2015 stockpile.
PRINCIPAL ROLE
Even as Fakhrizadeh stayed in the shadows, the IAEA in 2011 identified him as the suspected head of the AMAD Plan, which is believed to have been set up about two decades ago to oversee the main elements of the nuclear weapons programme.
While that military programme is thought to have been shelved in 2003, the IAEA said in its 2011 report that some related work continued and Fakhrizadeh retained “the principal organisational role”, citing a member state for the information.
The IAEA said in a 2015 “final assessment” that even those related efforts appeared to have ended in 2009. Fakhrizadeh was the only Iranian scientist named in that 2015 report.
For years, helped by new, intrusive inspection powers, the IAEA produced reports showing Iran was sticking to the main limits imposed by the nuclear deal, whose aim was to extend the time needed to produce enough nuclear material for a bomb, if that was Iran’s goal, to a year from two to three months.
After Trump entered the White House promising to scrap the nuclear deal, Israel stepped up a campaign saying Iran had lied about the extent of its past nuclear activities.
In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel had seized a huge “archive” of Iranian documents showing Tehran had done more work than previously known.
Israel shared much of the material with the IAEA and allies. Diplomats say the archive appears to have included additional information on activities carried out during Fakhrizadeh’s leadership of the AMAD Plan in the early 2000s.
“Remember that name, Fakhrizadeh,” Netanyahu had said in 2018 presentation on the material.
MOVING UNDERGROUND
Since then, the IAEA has inspected several sites possibly linked to the AMAD Plan, filling in some information gaps but without so far revealing major new areas of weapons work, diplomats say.
Exactly how long Iran would need to build a nuclear weapon if it chose to do so is unclear.
Its main enrichment plant at Natanz, built underground apparently to resist bombardment, is operating at a fraction of its pre-2015 capacity because of the deal but Iran is now enriching at other facilities as well and its stockpile of low-enriched uranium is rising.
Iran has also moved more efficient centrifuges, the machines used to enrich uranium, into the hardened underground plant.
Ariane Tabatabai, a Middle East researcher at the German Marshall Fund and Columbia University, said Fakhrizadeh’s death was a blow, likening it to the killing in January in a U.S. drone strike of Iran’s top military commander Qassem Soleimani.
But she said his work in creating an infrastructure to support Iran’s nuclear work meant “his death won’t fundamentally alter the course of Iran’s nuclear programme.”
This was echoed by Iranian officials.
“He created a network of scientists that will continue his work,” said Fereydoon Abbasi, an Iranian nuclear scientist and former head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, who survived an assassination attempt in 2010.
Writing by Francois Murphy; Editing by Edmund Blair
By Francois Murphy, Parisa Hafezi
VIENNA/DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was killed on Friday, led a life of such secrecy that even his age was under wraps but much about the clandestine nuclear weapons programme he is believed to have run has long been known.
The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it suspected Fakhrizadeh oversaw secret work to fit a warhead on a ballistic missile, test high explosives suitable for a nuclear weapon and process uranium.
Iran insists it never had such a programme nor any ambition to make a bomb. The IAEA and U.S. intelligence agencies believe it had a coordinated weapons programme that it halted in 2003.
Western suspicions that Iran would resume that programme were at the heart of the deal struck in a 2015 deal under which Tehran agreed with world powers to curb its nuclear work in return for the lifting of sanctions.
Israel, Iran’s arch foe, staunchly opposed that deal and President Donald Trump pulled out of it in 2018.
The killing of Fakhrizadeh is a blow to Iran given he was closely guarded and shielded from the public. But Iranian officials say Iran has a network of scientists to fill any gap.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s top authority, promised on Saturday to retaliate for Fakhrizadeh’s killing and said officials must continue to pursue “scientific and technical efforts of Martyr Fakhrizadeh in all the fields he was engaged.”
Iran ramped up nuclear work after Washington quit the 2015 deal, exceeding limits set by the agreement on production of enriched uranium - which can be refined into bomb material - although Tehran still has far less than its pre-2015 stockpile.
PRINCIPAL ROLE
Even as Fakhrizadeh stayed in the shadows, the IAEA in 2011 identified him as the suspected head of the AMAD Plan, which is believed to have been set up about two decades ago to oversee the main elements of the nuclear weapons programme.
While that military programme is thought to have been shelved in 2003, the IAEA said in its 2011 report that some related work continued and Fakhrizadeh retained “the principal organisational role”, citing a member state for the information.
The IAEA said in a 2015 “final assessment” that even those related efforts appeared to have ended in 2009. Fakhrizadeh was the only Iranian scientist named in that 2015 report.
For years, helped by new, intrusive inspection powers, the IAEA produced reports showing Iran was sticking to the main limits imposed by the nuclear deal, whose aim was to extend the time needed to produce enough nuclear material for a bomb, if that was Iran’s goal, to a year from two to three months.
After Trump entered the White House promising to scrap the nuclear deal, Israel stepped up a campaign saying Iran had lied about the extent of its past nuclear activities.
In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel had seized a huge “archive” of Iranian documents showing Tehran had done more work than previously known.
Israel shared much of the material with the IAEA and allies. Diplomats say the archive appears to have included additional information on activities carried out during Fakhrizadeh’s leadership of the AMAD Plan in the early 2000s.
“Remember that name, Fakhrizadeh,” Netanyahu had said in 2018 presentation on the material.
MOVING UNDERGROUND
Since then, the IAEA has inspected several sites possibly linked to the AMAD Plan, filling in some information gaps but without so far revealing major new areas of weapons work, diplomats say.
Exactly how long Iran would need to build a nuclear weapon if it chose to do so is unclear.
Its main enrichment plant at Natanz, built underground apparently to resist bombardment, is operating at a fraction of its pre-2015 capacity because of the deal but Iran is now enriching at other facilities as well and its stockpile of low-enriched uranium is rising.
Iran has also moved more efficient centrifuges, the machines used to enrich uranium, into the hardened underground plant.
Ariane Tabatabai, a Middle East researcher at the German Marshall Fund and Columbia University, said Fakhrizadeh’s death was a blow, likening it to the killing in January in a U.S. drone strike of Iran’s top military commander Qassem Soleimani.
But she said his work in creating an infrastructure to support Iran’s nuclear work meant “his death won’t fundamentally alter the course of Iran’s nuclear programme.”
This was echoed by Iranian officials.
“He created a network of scientists that will continue his work,” said Fereydoon Abbasi, an Iranian nuclear scientist and former head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, who survived an assassination attempt in 2010.
Writing by Francois Murphy; Editing by Edmund Blair
Former CIA Director John Brennan says the assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist was 'criminal' and risked inflaming conflict in the Middle East
Sophia Ankel
Sophia Ankel
Former CIA director John Brennan speaks during a forum on election security in Washington DC, on October 30, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
Former CIA Director John Brennan has condemned the assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist on Friday, calling it "criminal" and "highly reckless."
Brennan, who served between 2013 and 2017, also said he did not know who was to blame for the killing but that it "would be a flagrant violation of international law."
Details on the attack remain slim but Iran's foreign minister, Javad Zarif, pointed the finger at Israel on Friday, saying there are "serious indications" of Israeli involvement.
Former CIA Director John Brennan has condemned a top Iranian nuclear scientist's reported assassination on Friday, calling it "criminal" and "highly reckless."
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a former officer in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was killed in an ambush on his car on Friday while driving through Absard, a town located 50 miles outside the capital Tehran.
"This was a criminal act & highly reckless," Brennan tweeted on Friday afternoon. "It risks lethal retaliation & a new round of regional conflict."
Brennan, who served under the Obama administration, also said he did not know who was to blame for the killing but that it "would be a flagrant violation of international law."
"I do not know whether a foreign government authorized or carried out the murder of Fakhrizadeh. Such an act of state-sponsored terrorism would be a flagrant violation of international law & encourage more governments to carry out lethal attacks against foreign officials," Brennan tweeted.
—John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) November 27, 2020
Details on the reported attack remain slim. In a statement on Friday, Iran's defense ministry said that "armed terrorists" had targeted a vehicle carrying Fakhrizadeh, adding that the scientist "was severely injured."
He later died in the hospital.
No group or government has claimed responsibility for Friday's attack so far.
However, Iran's foreign minister, Javad Zarif, pointed the finger at Israel on Friday, saying there are "serious indications" of Israeli involvement.
He tweeted: "Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today. This cowardice — with serious indications of Israeli role — shows desperate warmongering of perpetrators."
The reported assassination also came less than two weeks after the New York Times reported that President Trump had consulted senior advisors about the possibility of conducting a strike on Iran's main nuclear facility.
Trump was reportedly advised against this, with several top aides warning it could trigger a broader conflict with the Islamic republic.
Former CIA Director John Brennan has condemned the assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist on Friday, calling it "criminal" and "highly reckless."
Brennan, who served between 2013 and 2017, also said he did not know who was to blame for the killing but that it "would be a flagrant violation of international law."
Details on the attack remain slim but Iran's foreign minister, Javad Zarif, pointed the finger at Israel on Friday, saying there are "serious indications" of Israeli involvement.
Former CIA Director John Brennan has condemned a top Iranian nuclear scientist's reported assassination on Friday, calling it "criminal" and "highly reckless."
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a former officer in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was killed in an ambush on his car on Friday while driving through Absard, a town located 50 miles outside the capital Tehran.
"This was a criminal act & highly reckless," Brennan tweeted on Friday afternoon. "It risks lethal retaliation & a new round of regional conflict."
Brennan, who served under the Obama administration, also said he did not know who was to blame for the killing but that it "would be a flagrant violation of international law."
"I do not know whether a foreign government authorized or carried out the murder of Fakhrizadeh. Such an act of state-sponsored terrorism would be a flagrant violation of international law & encourage more governments to carry out lethal attacks against foreign officials," Brennan tweeted.
—John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) November 27, 2020
Details on the reported attack remain slim. In a statement on Friday, Iran's defense ministry said that "armed terrorists" had targeted a vehicle carrying Fakhrizadeh, adding that the scientist "was severely injured."
He later died in the hospital.
No group or government has claimed responsibility for Friday's attack so far.
However, Iran's foreign minister, Javad Zarif, pointed the finger at Israel on Friday, saying there are "serious indications" of Israeli involvement.
He tweeted: "Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today. This cowardice — with serious indications of Israeli role — shows desperate warmongering of perpetrators."
The reported assassination also came less than two weeks after the New York Times reported that President Trump had consulted senior advisors about the possibility of conducting a strike on Iran's main nuclear facility.
Trump was reportedly advised against this, with several top aides warning it could trigger a broader conflict with the Islamic republic.
An Iranian security guard standing in front of the Bushehr nuclear power plant on August 20, 2010 in southern Iran XINHUA/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Fakhrizadeh's reported assassination comes less than a year after Trump ordered a drone strike that killed Qassem Solemani — the country's top general — pushing US-Iran relations to the brink of war.
In August, Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, was gunned down on the streets of Tehran by Israeli operatives acting at the behest of the US, the New York Times reported this month.
Both Israel and Washington have yet to comment on the attack.
On Friday, Trump retweeted an Israeli journalist, Yossi Melman, who called the killing "a major psychological and professional blow for Iran."
Brennan is a staunch Trump critic, who told Business Insider before the 2020 election that the "dishonesty" and disinformation coming out of the Trump administration is just as dangerous as foreign interference in the election.
After Trump's election loss, Brennan tweeted that he now plans "to ignore Trump," and will "leave his fate to our judicial system, his infamy to history, & his legacy to a trash heap," The Hill reported.
Brennan's comments about the reported Fakhrizadeh assassination were described as "bizarre" by Senator Ted Cruz, who tweeted on Friday that the ex-CIA chief "consistently sides with Iranian zealots who chant 'Death to America.'"
The former CIA director fired back, tweeting that it was "typical" of Cruz to "mischaracterize" his comment.
"Your lawless attitude & simple-minded approach to serious national security matters demonstrate that you are unworthy to represent the good people of Texas," Brennan wrote.
Fakhrizadeh's reported assassination comes less than a year after Trump ordered a drone strike that killed Qassem Solemani — the country's top general — pushing US-Iran relations to the brink of war.
In August, Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, was gunned down on the streets of Tehran by Israeli operatives acting at the behest of the US, the New York Times reported this month.
Both Israel and Washington have yet to comment on the attack.
On Friday, Trump retweeted an Israeli journalist, Yossi Melman, who called the killing "a major psychological and professional blow for Iran."
Brennan is a staunch Trump critic, who told Business Insider before the 2020 election that the "dishonesty" and disinformation coming out of the Trump administration is just as dangerous as foreign interference in the election.
After Trump's election loss, Brennan tweeted that he now plans "to ignore Trump," and will "leave his fate to our judicial system, his infamy to history, & his legacy to a trash heap," The Hill reported.
Brennan's comments about the reported Fakhrizadeh assassination were described as "bizarre" by Senator Ted Cruz, who tweeted on Friday that the ex-CIA chief "consistently sides with Iranian zealots who chant 'Death to America.'"
The former CIA director fired back, tweeting that it was "typical" of Cruz to "mischaracterize" his comment.
"Your lawless attitude & simple-minded approach to serious national security matters demonstrate that you are unworthy to represent the good people of Texas," Brennan wrote.
Iran reveals ‘killers’ of nuclear scientist Fakhrizadeh
Published on November 28, 2020
By Wale Odunsi
Iran President Hassan Rouhani has blamed Israel and the United States for the murder of nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
He alleged that Israel acted as a “mercenary” for America.
Fakhrizadeh was shot near Absard city in Tehran on Friday.
In a statement on Saturday, Rouhani said once again, “the evil hands of global arrogance were stained with the blood of the mercenary usurper Zionist regime”.
The ‘Zionist regime’ is veiled reference Israel.
State TV quoted the Islamic Republic premier as saying the assassination of Fakhrizadeh displays enemies’ despair and the depth of their hatred.
“His martyrdom will not slow down our achievements”, Rouhani vowed.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Fakhrizadeh, Iran’s prominent and distinguished nuclear and defensive scientist.
Khamenei hinted that was the “definitive punishment of the perpetrators and those who ordered it”.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said there were “serious indications of an Israeli role” in the hit.
The U.S. sanctioned the deceased in 2008 for activities and transactions that contributed to Iran’s nuclear programme.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Fakhrizadeh as a father of the nuclear weapon project.
Zionists behind assassination of Iranian scientist: Pakistani politician
Islamabad, Nov 28, IRNA -- Secretary General of Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) strongly condemned the assassination of a prominent Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, and said the Zionist regime and the United States are behind the heinous cowardly act.
Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafri in a statement on Saturday said the Zionist regime is playing with a fire which will soon engulf the illegitimate state.
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the head of Research and Innovation Organization of the Iranian Defense Ministry, was assassinated by terrorists in a terrorist attack near Tehran on Friday afternoon.
Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafri added that agents of the United States and the Zionist regime have assassinated the prominent defense scientist of Iran which is very unfortunate.
He said targeting Iran's most important figure is the worst aggression and interference in the internal affairs of the states, adding that the Zionists are playing with fire which will soon engulf the illegitimate Israeli regime.
He said that the United States, the Zionist regime and some Arab dictators in the region States are bent on destroying the peace of the region.
Allama Jafri added that the US is on the verge of collapse and the end of the Zionist regime is an eternal and undeniable fact. He said only some of their mercenaries in the region have the illusion of showing their power by buying security from outside.
Addressing some Arab rulers, he said that they should stop spreading hatred and a hypocritical approach and play a role in strengthening the position of the Islamic world.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reacting to the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Head of the Research and Innovation Organization of the Ministry of Defense, highlighted the Israeli regime’s role in the act.
“Iran calls on int'l community—and especially EU—to end their shameful double standards & condemn this act of state terror,” Zarif wrote in his Twitter account on Friday.
Published on November 28, 2020
By Wale Odunsi
Iran President Hassan Rouhani has blamed Israel and the United States for the murder of nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
He alleged that Israel acted as a “mercenary” for America.
Fakhrizadeh was shot near Absard city in Tehran on Friday.
In a statement on Saturday, Rouhani said once again, “the evil hands of global arrogance were stained with the blood of the mercenary usurper Zionist regime”.
The ‘Zionist regime’ is veiled reference Israel.
State TV quoted the Islamic Republic premier as saying the assassination of Fakhrizadeh displays enemies’ despair and the depth of their hatred.
“His martyrdom will not slow down our achievements”, Rouhani vowed.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Fakhrizadeh, Iran’s prominent and distinguished nuclear and defensive scientist.
Khamenei hinted that was the “definitive punishment of the perpetrators and those who ordered it”.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said there were “serious indications of an Israeli role” in the hit.
The U.S. sanctioned the deceased in 2008 for activities and transactions that contributed to Iran’s nuclear programme.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Fakhrizadeh as a father of the nuclear weapon project.
Zionists behind assassination of Iranian scientist: Pakistani politician
Islamabad, Nov 28, IRNA -- Secretary General of Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) strongly condemned the assassination of a prominent Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, and said the Zionist regime and the United States are behind the heinous cowardly act.
Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafri in a statement on Saturday said the Zionist regime is playing with a fire which will soon engulf the illegitimate state.
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the head of Research and Innovation Organization of the Iranian Defense Ministry, was assassinated by terrorists in a terrorist attack near Tehran on Friday afternoon.
Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafri added that agents of the United States and the Zionist regime have assassinated the prominent defense scientist of Iran which is very unfortunate.
He said targeting Iran's most important figure is the worst aggression and interference in the internal affairs of the states, adding that the Zionists are playing with fire which will soon engulf the illegitimate Israeli regime.
He said that the United States, the Zionist regime and some Arab dictators in the region States are bent on destroying the peace of the region.
Allama Jafri added that the US is on the verge of collapse and the end of the Zionist regime is an eternal and undeniable fact. He said only some of their mercenaries in the region have the illusion of showing their power by buying security from outside.
Addressing some Arab rulers, he said that they should stop spreading hatred and a hypocritical approach and play a role in strengthening the position of the Islamic world.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reacting to the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Head of the Research and Innovation Organization of the Ministry of Defense, highlighted the Israeli regime’s role in the act.
“Iran calls on int'l community—and especially EU—to end their shameful double standards & condemn this act of state terror,” Zarif wrote in his Twitter account on Friday.
COVID-killing UV lamps may cause serious eye damage, researchers say
November 28, 2020 Coronavirus, Health & Medical by John Anderer
MIAMI, Fla. — One of the most frustrating aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic is the virus’ ability to remain infectious on surfaces for days on end. In an attempt to rid their homes of the coronavirus, many people have started using ultra violet light emitting lamps. While UV light can kill bacteria and viruses, a new study finds those germicidal lamps may represent a serious health risk to your eyes.
Researchers at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine report that several of their patients using UV lamps to clean their homes have developed a serious and painful inflammation of the cornea called photokeratitis.
Injected conjunctiva (redness) of the right and left eye (top row)
Diffuse staining of the cornea with green dye indicating epithelial damage (bottom row).
(Credit: Bascom Palmer Eye Institute)
“During the height of the pandemic, we noticed an increased number of patients coming in with irritation, pain and sensitivity to light,” says first author and Bascom Palmer resident Jesse Sengillo, M.D., in a university release. “We realized this was after direct exposure to germicidal lamps that emit UV light in the C range to kill bacteria and viruses. This can be quite a painful experience for the patient, but with prompt topical lubrication and antibiotics to prevent infection, patients often do very well.”
“During the height of the pandemic, we noticed an increased number of patients coming in with irritation, pain and sensitivity to light,” says first author and Bascom Palmer resident Jesse Sengillo, M.D., in a university release. “We realized this was after direct exposure to germicidal lamps that emit UV light in the C range to kill bacteria and viruses. This can be quite a painful experience for the patient, but with prompt topical lubrication and antibiotics to prevent infection, patients often do very well.”
UV light can be an issue in certain environments
Typically, UV-related photokeratitis develops when a patient’s cornea is overexposed to UV light. This can happen at high elevations, due to the atmosphere absorbing fewer UV rays. It is also common near bodies of water, snow, or other reflective surfaces. It usually takes a few hours, but eventually patients start to feel burning in their eyes and increased light sensitivity.
There are quite a few UV light lamps available for purchase nowadays. While these products are technically “safe for in-home use,” researchers stress that consumers need to follow the instructions carefully.
“The patients we met were not aware of these recommendations, and many were unknowingly exposed at work” says co-author and fellow resident Anne Kunkler, M.D., B.S. “For UV-C emitting devices, it is best to leave the room while the device is on. Our patients were directly exposed to the light for various lengths of time. A few hours later, they felt discomfort and sought medical attention.”
If you start feeling discomfort in your eyes after using a UV lamp, study authors recommend seeking medical attention immediately. To be clear, this study didn’t attempt to determine just how effective UV light is at killing SARS-CoV-2.
“Our study was not designed to answer that question. If you choose to use these lamps, just make sure to follow manufacturer recommendations closely to avoid unnecessary injury,” Dr. Sengillo concludes.
The study is published in Ocular Immunology and Inflammation.
There’s a big obstacle looming for coronavirus vaccines — a stronger antivaccine movement
By Jazmine Ulloa Boston Globe Staff,Updated November 28, 2020
By Jazmine Ulloa Boston Globe Staff,Updated November 28, 2020
Demonstrators gathered to protest a mandatory flu vaccine order, outside the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse in Boston in October.JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
WASHINGTON — For as long as there have been vaccines, there have been people like Winnie Harrison who shun them.
Harrison, 67, a former educator and mother of four, became an ardent disbeliever in immunizations after her first child had an adverse reaction to a measles, mumps, and rubella shot some three decades ago. But it wasn’t until recent years that she and other skeptics began to forge online connections, fostering fear about vaccines and what doctors call a growing ecosystem of health misinformation that has only ramped up amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The founder of the Connecticut Vaccine Rights League, Harrison administers her group’s Facebook page, one of hundreds, if not hundreds of thousands, nationwide that dole out testimonials from antivaccine activists and celebrities, memes of doctors sharing now discredited claims about vaccines — and, more recently, warnings about the forthcoming COVID-19 vaccines.
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“I would never take it,” she said in an interview. “Most people recover from this virus. I am not dismissing it. It is very real. But so are vaccine problems.”
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As drugmakers close in on vaccines to tame an outbreak that has killed more than 260,000 people in the United States alone, medical professionals and online disinformation researchers are warning that an expanding antivaccine movement — bolstered by far-right opponents of coronavirus lockdowns — could undermine efforts to get Americans to take the shots and end the pandemic. They are urging health authorities, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies to invest heavily in public education to counter the misinformation, build confidence in the vaccines, and explain how they could help save lives, reopen schools and businesses, and return the US to normal.
“Vaccines are one of our greatest health care achievements,” said Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s hospitals. “The same energy that was placed into development and distribution of a coronavirus vaccine should have been placed in messaging and community engagement.”
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Excitement in the medical community has been building as three companies — Moderna, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca — recently released data showing their COVID-19 vaccines were highly effective.
But doctors and disinformation researchers have seen trouble looming since the earliest days of pandemic shutdowns, as misinformed or intentionally false and deceptive content spread through the internet like wildfire and conspiracy theories abounded over the virus’s origins, symptoms, and cures. Around that time, antivaccine groups saw huge increases in content and engagement, and started to merge efforts with conspiratorial actors, far-right groups, and activists protesting health measures ordering schools and businesses to close, researchers said.
The environment of fear and uncertainty created prime conditions for some of the top antivaccine activists to make an even broader push against science and government measures to protect public health.
“They are downplaying the pandemic, they are encouraging people not to wear masks, they are leading reopening protests, and then they also see this as an opportunity to erode confidence in vaccinations overall,” said Renée DiResta, the technical research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory and one of the lead experts in the study of online narrative manipulation and the so-called antivaxxer movement.
Some public health experts are urging President-elect Joe Biden to add misinformation researchers to his coronavirus task force. But complicating any efforts to respond to the outbreak has been President Trump, who has frequently minimized the dangers of the pandemic, fueled political polarization in the nation’s response, and had, until this week, held up the presidential transition. In the midst of it all, doctors and researchers have often referred to him as the “disinformation super spreader.”
Trump has a history of sharing falsehoods to undermine vaccines dating to at least 2007. But this year he has boasted about the speed with which some vaccines have been created under a federal initiative known as “Operation Warp Speed” in an attempt to claim credit for the achievement.
Since the early 1800s, antivaccine activists have opposed immunizations based on largely the same themes, such as pseudoscientific claims that they are unsafe and harmful, causing sudden infant death syndrome, autism, and other side effects. But in more recent years, many vaccine opponents now also argue that policies requiring vaccination for school or work are a violation of their freedom of choice and civil liberties, according to research by DiResta.
Some believe businesses that manufacture vaccines are motivated by profits and can easily escape liability should something go wrong. Increasingly, outlandish conspiracy theories are circulating that the coronavirus vaccine in particular could alter people’s DNA or even transform them into 5G wireless antennas, DiResta said.
In many ways, “vaccines are a victim of their own success,” she wrote in a 2018 paper. “Absent the sight of individuals afflicted by communicable diseases, increasing numbers of people seem to be more afraid of vaccines than of the diseases they prevent.”
Vaccination has made major contributions to world health, eradicating polio and smallpox in the US, and eliminating a deadly cattle virus around the world known as rinderpest. Doctors also have seen its success in controlling measles, spurring hope that disease, too, could possibly be completely stamped out from society one day.
But the latest push against vaccines began to take shape after Andrew Wakefield, a former British physician, and other colleagues released a now discredited 1998 study that falsely linked the measles, mumps, and rubella, or MMR, vaccine to behavioral regression and developmental disorder. Vaccination rates for MMR dropped by about 2 percent in the US, and even more in the United Kingdom and Ireland, in the wake of the study.
The arrival of social media accelerated interconnections among activists’ and created fresh forms of opposition, with those on the left shifting their message to appeal to the libertarian right, DiResta said.
Opponents now span class and political lines, including celebrities like Alicia Silverstone and Jim Carey, as well as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has become one of the top antivaccine influencers on Instagram. An order just last summer by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker that nearly all students in the state under the age of 30 get a flu vaccine this year sparked protests outside the State House.
And in the wake of the pandemic, antivaccine activists have not only increasingly “discovered, engaged with, and amplified” each other but also other far-right and extreme conspiracy groups, such as QAnon, said Graham Brookie, director and managing editor of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. One rabbit hole, he said, can easily lead to the next.
An October report by the Centre for Countering Digital Hate found 31 million people follow antivaccine Facebook groups and 17 million people subscribe to similar channels on YouTube. Antivaccine activists saw followings of their social media accounts grow by at least 7 million people since 2019, it said. Doctors who publicly urge vaccinations have reported being harassed online by those activists in recent years, making some physicians hesitant to speak out.
There is little coherency to how people are drawn into opposition, said Jonathan Corpus Ong, an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. Some vaccine opponents fall in through wellness and alternative medicine culture; others are believers in conspiracy theories about the pharmaceutical industry, the influence of Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, and 5G wireless signals. Some support Trump but oppose his push for a coronavirus vaccine. Others might cheer the president’s vaccine efforts but are skeptical about immunization plans will fall to Biden to implement.
Researchers with the nonprofit First Draft — which collected 14 million tweets and posts from Facebook and Instagram about vaccination in English, Spanish, and French ― found a large amount of the content fell under a common theme: perpetuating the unsubstantiated claim that the quest for profits by pharmaceutical companies undermined the safety of all vaccines.
As the US prepares to distribute coronavirus vaccines, researchers said policymakers need to understand how even innocuous-seeming posts work in tandem across social media sites to shape people’s attitudes, said Seb Cubbon, one of the research analysts on the study.
Doctors and researchers see some positive signs. A Gallup poll released this month found about 58 percent of Americans were willing to get a COVID-19 vaccination, up from a low of 50 percent in September. Studies show about 75 percent of the population needs to be vaccinated to control the outbreak.
A poll of nearly 20,000 adults in 27 countries released in August by the World Economic Forum found 74 percent said they would get a vaccine if it were available. The US figure then was 67 percent, roughly where it was in a late July Gallup poll.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is developing education materials on coronavirus vaccination, according to its COVID-19 handbook. Twitter and Facebook have implemented stricter controls to keep coronavirus falsehoods and conspiracy theories from spreading on their social networks.
But doctors and disinformation researchers said those measures will not suffice and are likely to leave large information gaps or “data voids” in search engines, which could lead people down the wrong path. Health and government officials must also understand how internet users could be micro-targeted. “We will see all the same tactics and trends that went after voters pivot to going to vaccines,” said P.W. Singer, a political scientist and author of “LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media.”
In Black communities, a sordid history of racial experimentation and continued barriers to health because of structural racism have contributed to a justifiable distrust in vaccines, doctors said. In Latino communities, Spanish-language medical disinformation has largely gone unchecked and narratives “are receiving high levels of engagement ... where there are low health literacy skills,” said Jacobo Licona, who leads disinformation research at the firm EquisLabs.
To reach people across communities, doctors emphasized the importance of recruiting trusted and popular messengers with varied cultural backgrounds and language skills. Vaccinations, they said, should be widely available not only in local pharmacies and medical clinics but also in schools and on college campuses.
Ong, the UMass professor, urged that public education campaigns point to history, to the immense benefits of past immunization campaigns. “We have been vaccinated against polio and hepatitis, so many have worked over time,” he said.
The longer it takes to develop accurate and positive vaccine messages, the harder it will be for them to break through with some people. Harrison started her Facebook group in 2015, about a year after a measles outbreak at Disneyland spurred mostly Democratic legislators in California and other state legislatures to expand vaccine requirements.
To critics that say she is spreading disinformation, Harrison responds that people are entitled to express their opinions. Hers, she adds, are based on personal experience: Two years in and out of hospitals with her son after he fell ill with pneumonia, allergies, and asthma following an MMR vaccination.
“This wasn’t just something that I just woke up one day and said I am going to listen to whoever — some stranger — on the internet,” she said, adding that she doesn’t believe large pharmaceutical companies have people’s best interests in mind.
Ojikutu, the MGH specialist, and other doctors stressed that there can be medical complications with vaccines — although rare and often mild — but that investment in vaccines benefits the public in huge ways.
“It is totally reasonable to have your own beliefs, but when those beliefs get in the way of yourself, your children, parents, or other people, that’s when it becomes problematic,” Ojikutu said.
Reach Jazmine Ulloa at jazmine.ulloa@globe.com or on Twitter: @jazmineulloa.
WASHINGTON — For as long as there have been vaccines, there have been people like Winnie Harrison who shun them.
Harrison, 67, a former educator and mother of four, became an ardent disbeliever in immunizations after her first child had an adverse reaction to a measles, mumps, and rubella shot some three decades ago. But it wasn’t until recent years that she and other skeptics began to forge online connections, fostering fear about vaccines and what doctors call a growing ecosystem of health misinformation that has only ramped up amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The founder of the Connecticut Vaccine Rights League, Harrison administers her group’s Facebook page, one of hundreds, if not hundreds of thousands, nationwide that dole out testimonials from antivaccine activists and celebrities, memes of doctors sharing now discredited claims about vaccines — and, more recently, warnings about the forthcoming COVID-19 vaccines.
Advertisement
“I would never take it,” she said in an interview. “Most people recover from this virus. I am not dismissing it. It is very real. But so are vaccine problems.”
Get Today in Politics in your inboxA digest of the top political stories from the Globe, sent to your inbox Monday-Friday.
Sign Up
As drugmakers close in on vaccines to tame an outbreak that has killed more than 260,000 people in the United States alone, medical professionals and online disinformation researchers are warning that an expanding antivaccine movement — bolstered by far-right opponents of coronavirus lockdowns — could undermine efforts to get Americans to take the shots and end the pandemic. They are urging health authorities, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies to invest heavily in public education to counter the misinformation, build confidence in the vaccines, and explain how they could help save lives, reopen schools and businesses, and return the US to normal.
“Vaccines are one of our greatest health care achievements,” said Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s hospitals. “The same energy that was placed into development and distribution of a coronavirus vaccine should have been placed in messaging and community engagement.”
Advertisement
Excitement in the medical community has been building as three companies — Moderna, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca — recently released data showing their COVID-19 vaccines were highly effective.
But doctors and disinformation researchers have seen trouble looming since the earliest days of pandemic shutdowns, as misinformed or intentionally false and deceptive content spread through the internet like wildfire and conspiracy theories abounded over the virus’s origins, symptoms, and cures. Around that time, antivaccine groups saw huge increases in content and engagement, and started to merge efforts with conspiratorial actors, far-right groups, and activists protesting health measures ordering schools and businesses to close, researchers said.
The environment of fear and uncertainty created prime conditions for some of the top antivaccine activists to make an even broader push against science and government measures to protect public health.
“They are downplaying the pandemic, they are encouraging people not to wear masks, they are leading reopening protests, and then they also see this as an opportunity to erode confidence in vaccinations overall,” said Renée DiResta, the technical research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory and one of the lead experts in the study of online narrative manipulation and the so-called antivaxxer movement.
Some public health experts are urging President-elect Joe Biden to add misinformation researchers to his coronavirus task force. But complicating any efforts to respond to the outbreak has been President Trump, who has frequently minimized the dangers of the pandemic, fueled political polarization in the nation’s response, and had, until this week, held up the presidential transition. In the midst of it all, doctors and researchers have often referred to him as the “disinformation super spreader.”
Trump has a history of sharing falsehoods to undermine vaccines dating to at least 2007. But this year he has boasted about the speed with which some vaccines have been created under a federal initiative known as “Operation Warp Speed” in an attempt to claim credit for the achievement.
Since the early 1800s, antivaccine activists have opposed immunizations based on largely the same themes, such as pseudoscientific claims that they are unsafe and harmful, causing sudden infant death syndrome, autism, and other side effects. But in more recent years, many vaccine opponents now also argue that policies requiring vaccination for school or work are a violation of their freedom of choice and civil liberties, according to research by DiResta.
Some believe businesses that manufacture vaccines are motivated by profits and can easily escape liability should something go wrong. Increasingly, outlandish conspiracy theories are circulating that the coronavirus vaccine in particular could alter people’s DNA or even transform them into 5G wireless antennas, DiResta said.
In many ways, “vaccines are a victim of their own success,” she wrote in a 2018 paper. “Absent the sight of individuals afflicted by communicable diseases, increasing numbers of people seem to be more afraid of vaccines than of the diseases they prevent.”
Vaccination has made major contributions to world health, eradicating polio and smallpox in the US, and eliminating a deadly cattle virus around the world known as rinderpest. Doctors also have seen its success in controlling measles, spurring hope that disease, too, could possibly be completely stamped out from society one day.
But the latest push against vaccines began to take shape after Andrew Wakefield, a former British physician, and other colleagues released a now discredited 1998 study that falsely linked the measles, mumps, and rubella, or MMR, vaccine to behavioral regression and developmental disorder. Vaccination rates for MMR dropped by about 2 percent in the US, and even more in the United Kingdom and Ireland, in the wake of the study.
The arrival of social media accelerated interconnections among activists’ and created fresh forms of opposition, with those on the left shifting their message to appeal to the libertarian right, DiResta said.
Opponents now span class and political lines, including celebrities like Alicia Silverstone and Jim Carey, as well as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has become one of the top antivaccine influencers on Instagram. An order just last summer by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker that nearly all students in the state under the age of 30 get a flu vaccine this year sparked protests outside the State House.
And in the wake of the pandemic, antivaccine activists have not only increasingly “discovered, engaged with, and amplified” each other but also other far-right and extreme conspiracy groups, such as QAnon, said Graham Brookie, director and managing editor of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. One rabbit hole, he said, can easily lead to the next.
An October report by the Centre for Countering Digital Hate found 31 million people follow antivaccine Facebook groups and 17 million people subscribe to similar channels on YouTube. Antivaccine activists saw followings of their social media accounts grow by at least 7 million people since 2019, it said. Doctors who publicly urge vaccinations have reported being harassed online by those activists in recent years, making some physicians hesitant to speak out.
There is little coherency to how people are drawn into opposition, said Jonathan Corpus Ong, an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. Some vaccine opponents fall in through wellness and alternative medicine culture; others are believers in conspiracy theories about the pharmaceutical industry, the influence of Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, and 5G wireless signals. Some support Trump but oppose his push for a coronavirus vaccine. Others might cheer the president’s vaccine efforts but are skeptical about immunization plans will fall to Biden to implement.
Researchers with the nonprofit First Draft — which collected 14 million tweets and posts from Facebook and Instagram about vaccination in English, Spanish, and French ― found a large amount of the content fell under a common theme: perpetuating the unsubstantiated claim that the quest for profits by pharmaceutical companies undermined the safety of all vaccines.
As the US prepares to distribute coronavirus vaccines, researchers said policymakers need to understand how even innocuous-seeming posts work in tandem across social media sites to shape people’s attitudes, said Seb Cubbon, one of the research analysts on the study.
Doctors and researchers see some positive signs. A Gallup poll released this month found about 58 percent of Americans were willing to get a COVID-19 vaccination, up from a low of 50 percent in September. Studies show about 75 percent of the population needs to be vaccinated to control the outbreak.
A poll of nearly 20,000 adults in 27 countries released in August by the World Economic Forum found 74 percent said they would get a vaccine if it were available. The US figure then was 67 percent, roughly where it was in a late July Gallup poll.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is developing education materials on coronavirus vaccination, according to its COVID-19 handbook. Twitter and Facebook have implemented stricter controls to keep coronavirus falsehoods and conspiracy theories from spreading on their social networks.
But doctors and disinformation researchers said those measures will not suffice and are likely to leave large information gaps or “data voids” in search engines, which could lead people down the wrong path. Health and government officials must also understand how internet users could be micro-targeted. “We will see all the same tactics and trends that went after voters pivot to going to vaccines,” said P.W. Singer, a political scientist and author of “LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media.”
In Black communities, a sordid history of racial experimentation and continued barriers to health because of structural racism have contributed to a justifiable distrust in vaccines, doctors said. In Latino communities, Spanish-language medical disinformation has largely gone unchecked and narratives “are receiving high levels of engagement ... where there are low health literacy skills,” said Jacobo Licona, who leads disinformation research at the firm EquisLabs.
To reach people across communities, doctors emphasized the importance of recruiting trusted and popular messengers with varied cultural backgrounds and language skills. Vaccinations, they said, should be widely available not only in local pharmacies and medical clinics but also in schools and on college campuses.
Ong, the UMass professor, urged that public education campaigns point to history, to the immense benefits of past immunization campaigns. “We have been vaccinated against polio and hepatitis, so many have worked over time,” he said.
The longer it takes to develop accurate and positive vaccine messages, the harder it will be for them to break through with some people. Harrison started her Facebook group in 2015, about a year after a measles outbreak at Disneyland spurred mostly Democratic legislators in California and other state legislatures to expand vaccine requirements.
To critics that say she is spreading disinformation, Harrison responds that people are entitled to express their opinions. Hers, she adds, are based on personal experience: Two years in and out of hospitals with her son after he fell ill with pneumonia, allergies, and asthma following an MMR vaccination.
“This wasn’t just something that I just woke up one day and said I am going to listen to whoever — some stranger — on the internet,” she said, adding that she doesn’t believe large pharmaceutical companies have people’s best interests in mind.
Ojikutu, the MGH specialist, and other doctors stressed that there can be medical complications with vaccines — although rare and often mild — but that investment in vaccines benefits the public in huge ways.
“It is totally reasonable to have your own beliefs, but when those beliefs get in the way of yourself, your children, parents, or other people, that’s when it becomes problematic,” Ojikutu said.
Reach Jazmine Ulloa at jazmine.ulloa@globe.com or on Twitter: @jazmineulloa.
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