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A6 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 28 November 2020
Iran scientist linked to military nuclear program killed

By JON GAMBRELL date in Iran's 2021 election,
DUBAI, United Arab Emir- also blamed Israel — and
ates (AP) — An Iranian sci- issued a warning.
entist named by the West "In the last days of their
as the leader of the Islamic gambling ally's political life,
Republic's disbanded mili- the Zionists seek to intensify
tary nuclear program was and increase pressure on
killed Friday in an ambush Iran to wage a full-blown
on the outskirts of Tehran, war," Dehghan wrote, ap-
authorities said. pearing to refer to Trump's
Iran's foreign minister al- last days in office. "We will
leged the killing of Mohsen descend like lightning on
Fakhrizadeh bore "serious the killers of this oppressed
indications" of an Israeli martyr and we will make
role, but did not elaborate. them regret their actions!"
Israel, long suspected of kill- The attack comes just days
ing several Iranian nuclear before the 10-year anni-
scientists a decade ago, versary of the killing of Ira-
declined to immediately nian nuclear scientist Majid
comment. Israeli Prime Min- Shahriari that Tehran also
ister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed on Israel. That and
once told the public to "re- other targeted killings hap-
member that name" when In this picture released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Mohsen pened at the time that the
talking about Fakhrizadeh. Fakhrizadeh, right, sits in a meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, so-called Stuxnet virus, be-
The killing risks further rais- Jan. 23, 2019. lieved to be an Israeli and
ing tensions across the Mid- Associated Press American creation, de-
east, nearly a year after stroyed Iranian centrifuges.
Iran and the U.S. stood on ter President Donald Trump vision said an old truck with holes in the windshield and The area around Absard,
the brink of war when an withdrew from the accord explosives hidden under a blood pooled on the road. which has a view of Mount
American drone strike killed in 2018. load of wood blew up near While no one claimed re- Damavand, the country's
a top Iranian general in Trump himself retweeted a sedan carrying Fakhriza- sponsibility for the attack, highest peak, is filled with
Baghdad. It comes just as a posting from Israeli jour- deh. Iranian Foreign Minister vacation villas. Roads on
President-elect Joe Biden nalist Yossi Melman, an ex- As Fakhrizadeh's sedan Mohammad Javad Zarif Friday, part of the Iranian
stands poised to be inau- pert on the Israeli Mossad stopped, at least five gun- pointed the finger at Israel, weekend, were emptier
gurated in January and intelligence service, about men emerged and raked calling the killing an act of than normal due to a lock-
will likely complicate his ef- the killing. Melman's tweet the car with rapid fire, the "state terror." down over the coronavirus
forts to return America to called the killing a "major semiofficial Tasnim news "Terrorists murdered an emi- pandemic, offering his at-
a pact aimed at ensuring psychological and profes- agency said. nent Iranian scientist today. tackers a chance to strike
Iran does not have enough sional blow for Iran." Fakhrizadeh died at a hos- This cowardice — with se- with fewer people around.
highly enriched uranium to Details about the slaying pital after doctors and rious indications of Israeli Fakhrizadeh led Iran's so-
make a nuclear weapon. remained slim in the hours paramedics couldn't revive role — shows desperate called AMAD program that
That deal, which saw Iran after the attack, which him. Others wounded in- warmongering of perpetra- Israel and the West have
limit its uranium enrichment happened in Absard, a vil- cluded Fakhrizadeh's body- tors," Zarif wrote on Twitter. alleged was a military op-
in exchange for the lifting lage just east of the capital guards. Photos and video Hossein Dehghan, an advis- eration looking at the fea-
of economic sanctions, that is a retreat for the Ira- shared online showed a er to Iran's supreme leader sibility of building a nuclear
has entirely unraveled af- nian elite. Iranian state tele- Nissan sedan with bullet and a presidential candi- weapon. q

Belarus president plans to leave job under new constitution

Friday that he would not The opposition views the after Lukashenko met with
remain in the post he has talk of constitutional revi- Russian Foreign Minister Ser-
held for more than 26 years sions as a delaying tac- gey Lavrov, who expressed
if his country adopts a new tic aimed at sapping the support for a new Belaru-
constitution. momentum of the near- sian Constitution. Russia
However, President Alexan- daily protests, which have has close ties with Belarus,
der Lukashenko did not de- occurred throughout the and Moscow has offered
scribe the amendments he country and attracted Lukashenko security assis-
is seeking or give a timeline crowds sometimes num- tance if he requests it. Lu-
for when a new constitu- bering more than 100,000. kashenko, who has been
tion might be adopted. Belarusian authorities have in office since 1994, has re-
Lukashenko has repeatedly called for a national assem- fused to negotiate with the
raised the prospect of a bly of thousands of people opposition on a trasnfer of
new constitution since the in late December or Janu- power or a new presiden-
Aug. 9 presidential elec- ary to discuss proposed tial election.
tion in which he won a sixth constitutional changes. Police have taken a hard
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attends the talks term produced protests "I will not work with you as line against the demon-
with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Belarus Foreign
Minister Vladimir Makei in Minsk, Belarus, Thursday, Nov. 26, demanding his resigna- president under the new strations, and human rights
2020. tion. The Belarusian political constitution," Lukashenko activists say more than
Associated Press opposition and some poll said in comments released 19,000 people have been
workers have alleged the by his press service. detained and thousands of
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The president of Belarus said election was rigged. The remarks came a day them beaten.q