October 08, 2021
Fakhrizadeh’s wife by a short distance.
The New York Times reports that most of what Iran eventually said about the assassination last year of Iran’s chief nuclear scientist was correct.
In a lengthy and detailed report published September 18, The Times added the detail that the automated Israeli machine gun used in the attack fired 15 bullets in all.
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed in his car while driving to his vacation home in Absard, east of Tehran, November 27, 2020.
He was killed by Israeli intelligence, which had set up a heavy machinegun, resting in a parked truck beside the road, and operated by a skilled assassin sitting before a video screen in Israel.
The Times said it learned the details in interviews with American, Israeli and Iranian officials.
Under an informal agreement with the United States, Israel does not carry out such actions in Iran without a nod from the United States. This attack was carried out with authorization from President Donald Trump two months before he left office. Israel did not think that President Joe Biden would approve their plans.
The Times said Israel chose a Belgian-made 7.62mm FN MAG machine gun. “But the machine gun, the robot, its components and accessories together weigh about a ton. So, the equipment was broken down into its smallest possible parts and smuggled into the country piece by piece, in various ways, routes and times, then secretly reassembled in Iran,” The Times reported.
“The robot was built to fit in the bed of a [Nissan] Zamyad pickup, a common model in Iran. Cameras pointing in multiple directions were mounted on the truck to give the command room [in Israel] a full picture, not just of the target and his security detail, but of the surrounding environment. Finally, the truck was packed with explosives so it could be blown to bits after the kill, destroying all evidence.
“There were further complications in firing the weapon. A machine gun mounted on a truck, even a parked one, will shake after each shot’s recoil, changing the trajectory of subsequent bullets.
“Also, even though the computer communicated with the control room via satellite, sending data at the speed of light, there would be a slight delay: What the operator saw on the screen was already a moment old, and adjusting the aim to compensate would take another moment, all while Mr. Fakhrizadeh’s car was in motion.
“The time it took for the camera images to reach the sniper and for the sniper’s response to reach the machine gun, not including his reaction time, was estimated to be 1.6 seconds, enough of a lag for the best-aimed shot to go astray,” The Times wrote. The whole operation was therefore programmed to compensate for the delay, the shake and the car’s speed.
Another problem was to be certain that Fakhrizadeh was driving the car, as he commonly did. So, the Israelis parked a car a short distance away, rigged to look like it was disabled, with a tire missing and raised on a jack. That car contained another camera so the Israeli plotters back in Israel could confirm that Fakhrizadeh was indeed at the wheel. He was in the second car of a four-car convoy the other cars occupied by bodyguards.
All those involved in the plot had left Iran before the day for the killing had arrived. The Times did not say how many of the plotters in Iran were Israelis and how many Iranians.
The Times then outlined Fakhrizadeh’s last moments in detail.
“The convoy turned right on Imam Khomeini Boulevard, and the lead car then zipped ahead to the house to inspect it before Mr. Fakhrizadeh arrived. Its departure left Mr. Fakhrizadeh’s car fully exposed.
“The convoy slowed down for a speed bump just before the parked Zamyad. A stray dog began crossing the road.
“The machine gun fired a burst of bullets, hitting the front of the car below the windshield. It is not clear if any of these shots hit Mr. Fakhrizadeh but the car swerved and came to a stop.
“The shooter adjusted the sights and fired another burst, hitting the windshield at least three times and Mr. Fakhrizadeh at least once in the shoulder. He stepped out of the car and crouched behind the open front door.
“According to Iran’s Fars News, three more bullets tore into his spine. He collapsed on the road.
“The first bodyguard arrived from a chase car: Hamed Asghari, a national judo champion, holding a rifle. He looked around for the assailant, seemingly confused.
“Ms. Ghasemi ran out to her husband. “They want to kill me, and you must leave,” he told her, according to his sons.
“She sat on the ground and held his head on her lap, she told Iranian state television.
“The blue Zamyad exploded.
“That was the only part of the operation that did not go as planned.
“The explosion was intended to rip the robot to shreds so the Iranians could not piece together what had happened. Instead, most of the equipment was hurled into the air and then fell to the ground, damaged beyond repair but largely intact.
“The Revolutionary Guards’ assessment that the attack was carried out by a remote-controlled machine gun ‘equipped with an intelligent satellite system’ using artificial intelligence was correct.
“The entire operation took less than a minute. Fifteen bullets were fired.
“Iranian investigators noted that not one of them hit Ms. Ghasemi, seated inches away, accuracy that they attributed to the use of facial recognition software.”
In Tehran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh dismissed The New York Times story for attributing “Hollywood-style trappings” to a terrorist act. He said Iranian intelligence already knew all the details of the attack, including the names of those involved.