Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has accused Israel of killing its top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh amid the silence and complicity of the West and also called on Iran’s Gulf neighbours not to support Israel against Iran.
Zarrif while adrsssing Med2020, an international forum held in Rome, on Thursday, enquired the reason the West is supporting Israeli terrorism? Why is Israel committing acts of terror against Iran, including [killing] their top nuclear scientist, without condemnation and consequences from the West?”
It was the first time Zarif spoke on an international platform after Fakhrizadeh’s killing last week, which caused outrage in the country and prompted the Iranian Parliament to demand its government to ramp up its nuclear programme.
While no party has claimed responsibility for the killing of Fakhrizadeh – viewed by Western powers as the architect of Iran’s abandoned nuclear weapons programme – Iran has accused Israel for that assassination .
The assassination may complicate US President-elect Joe Biden’s intention to restore the Iranian nuclear deal. Outgoing President Donald Trump walked out of the agreement, signed by the previous administration, in 2018.
Zarif warned that the decision of the parliament would soon become law but could be reversed if sanctions against Iran were lifted and the US rejoined the nuclear deal without preconditions. But the US needed to take the first step.
