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A30 world news
Diamars 1 December 2020

Iran says Israel killed military nuclear scientist remotely

diately offered evidence sup- on the ground to set up the Fakhrizadeh’s killing and
porting their claims, which weapon. warned: “This will catch up
also give authorities a way to with you someday.”
explain why no one was re- Shamkhani blamed the Irani-
portedly arrested at the scene. an exile group Mujahedeen- Overnight, the United Arab
e-Khalq as well for “having a Emirates, which just reached
“Unfortunately, the opera- role in this,” without elabo- a normalization deal with Is-
tion was a very complicated rating. The MEK, as the ex- rael, issued a statement con-
operation and was carried out ile group is known, has been demning “the heinous assas-
by using electronic devices,” suspected of assisting Israeli sination.” The UAE, home
Shamkhani told state TV. operations in Iran in the past. to Abu Dhabi and Dubai,
“No individual was present Shahin Gobadi, an MEK warned the killing “could
at the site." spokesman, dismissed Sham- further fuel conflict in the
khani's remarks as “rage, ran- region.”
Satellite control of weapons cor and lies” sparked by the
(AP) — A top Iranian se- is nothing new. Armed, long- group's earlier exposes over Last year, the UAE found
curity official on Monday Israel insists Iran still main- range drones, for instance, Iran's nuclear program. itself in the middle of an es-
accused Israel of using tains the ambition of de- rely on satellite connections calating series of incidents
“electronic devices” to re- veloping nuclear weapons, to be controlled by their re- Monday’s service for between Iran and the U.S.
motely kill a scientist who pointing to Tehran’s ballistic mote pilots. Remote-con- Fakhrizadeh took place at Though long suspicious of
founded the Islamic Re- missile program and research trolled gun turrets also exist, an outdoor portion of Iran’s Iran’s nuclear program, the
public's military nuclear into other technologies. Iran but typically see their opera- Defense Ministry in Tehran, Emirates has said it wants to
program in the 2000s. long has maintained that its tor connected by a hard line with officials including Rev- de-escalate the crisis. The
nuclear program is for peace- to cut down on the delay in olutionary Guard chief Gen. UAE just started passenger
Ali Shamkhani, the secretary ful purposes. commands being relayed. Hossein Salami, the Guard’s air service to Israel and Israe-
of the country’s Supreme Israel uses such hard-wired Quds Force leader Gen. Es- lis are expected to vacation in
National Security Council, Shamkhani's remarks dras- systems along the border mail Ghaani, civilian nuclear the country over Hanukkah
made the comment at the fu- tically change the story of with the Hamas-controlled program chief Ali Akbar Sa- in the coming days.
neral for Mohsen Fakhriza- Fakhrizadeh's killing, which Gaza Strip. hei and Intelligence Minis-
deh, where Iran's defense took place Friday. Authorities ter Mamoud Alavi. They sat Bahrain, an island kingdom
minister separately vowed initially said a truck exploded While technically feasible, it apart from each other and off Saudi Arabia in the Per-
to continue the man’s work and then gunmen opened wasn't immediately clear if wore masks due to the coro- sian Gulf that also recently
“with more speed and more fire on the scientist, killing such a system had been used navirus pandemic as reciters normalized relations with
power.” him and a bodyguard. State before, said Jeremy Binnie, melodically read parts of the Israel, similarly condemned
TV even interviewed a man the Mideast editor of Jane's Quran and religious texts. Fakhrizadeh’s killing.
Israel, long suspected of kill- the night of the attack who Defence Weekly. “In light of the current situ-
ing Iranian nuclear scientists described seeing gunmen “Could you set up a weapon Defense Minister Gen. Amir ation in the region, the king-
over the last decade, has re- open fire. with a camera which then Hatami gave a speech after dom of Bahrain calls on all
peatedly declined to com- has a feed that uses an open kissing Fakhrizadeh’s cas- parties to exercise maximum
ment on the attack. State TV’s English-language satellite communications ket and putting his forehead restraint to avoid new levels
broadcaster Press TV re- line back to the controller?” against it. He said Fakhriza- of instability,” Bahrain's For-
Fakhrizadeh headed Iran’s ported earlier Monday that a Binnie said. “I can't see why deh’s killing would make eign Affairs Ministry said.
so-called AMAD program, weapon recovered from the that's not possible.” Iranians “more united, more
which Israel and the West scene of the attack bore “the determined.” Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign
have alleged was a military logo and specifications of It also raised the question Ministry Director-General
operation looking at the fea- the Israeli military industry.” whether the truck that ex- “For the continuation of Alon Ushpiz has sent a cable
sibility of building a nuclear State TV’s Arabic-language ploded during the attack your path, we will continue to all Israeli diplomatic del-
weapon. The International channel, Al-Alam, claimed detonated afterward to try to with more speed and more egations around the globe
Atomic Energy Agency says the weapons used were “con- destroy a satellite-controlled power,” Hatami said in com- urging diplomats to maintain
that “structured program” trolled by satellite,” a claim machine gun that was hid- ments aired live by state tele- “the highest level of readiness
ended in 2003. U.S. intel- also made Sunday by the den inside the vehicle. Ira- vision. and awareness of any irregu-
ligence agencies concurred semiofficial Fars news agency. nian officials did not imme- lar activity” around missions
with that assessment in a diately acknowledge that. It Hatami also criticized coun- and Jewish community cen-
2007 report. None of the outlets imme- also would require someone tries that hadn’t condemned ters.

Greece: Critics warn virus test price caps may slash testing

(AP) — Greece’s largest medical would force many independent labs of all fatalities occurring in Novem- infections were falling faster in the
association on Monday criticized to stop providing COVID-19 tests ber. major cities of Athens and Thessa-
a decision by the country’s gov- because they would be too costly for loniki than in the rest of the country,
ernment to impose price caps on them, putting additional pressure on But health officials said the num- but said the number of infections in
coronavirus tests at private labs, the state-run health service. ber of new infections was waning in the two cities still remains high.
warning that the measure could most parts of the country, which has
disrupt testing during a spike in There was no immediate response been in lockdown for three weeks. Greece’s lockdown, which initially
infections. from Greece's Development Minis- had been set to end Monday, has
try to the complaint. A total 1,044 new confirmed infec- been extended for another week.
The center-right government last tions were recorded Monday – down
week set the price limits at 40 euros Greece suffered its highest daily from a record high of more than Separately Monday, the government
($48) for regular swab tests and 10 death toll due to the pandemic at the 3,000 earlier in November – which said it was looking for ways to help
euros ($12) for rapid tests, cutting weekend, with 121 deaths reported brought the total in the country of commercialize a state-supervised
current rates at most labs by more Saturday. about 11 million to 105,271. research project involving several
than half. Greek universities and research labs
Another 85 deaths were recorded Vana Papaevangelou, from the gov- that has produced a new rapid test
In response, the Panhellenic Medi- Monday, raising the overall toll to ernment’s COVID-19 advisory method for the coronavirus.
cal Association said that the measure 2,406 — with more than two-thirds board, told a daily briefing that new