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EU condemns assassination of Iranian scientist but calls for restraint

Members of an honor guard sit next to the coffin of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, during his burial ceremony at the shrine of Imamzadeh Saleh, in Tehran, Iran, on November 30, 2020. (Photo by Reuters)

Biana Rahimi
Press TV, London

Today Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was laid to rest. He was assassinated Friday near the capital, Tehran. Iran has vowed to avenge the killing. On the day of the attack, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif urged the international community, especially the European Union, to abandon its shameful double standard and condemn this “act of state terror.” The European Union made its position clear in an official post on its website Saturday.

The EU is calling for all sides to practice restraint though, saying this is a sensitive time.

Germany has urged all sides not to allow the last weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency in the US to obliterate hopes for fresh negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. The United Kingdom has been less inclined to condemn the attack though.

Israel’s lobby in the UK is strong and British politicians are very careful not to offend the Zionist regime.

The New York Times says Israel was behind the attack, citing an American official and two intelligence sources. Tel Aviv has carried out a number of assassination operations against Iranian nuclear scientists over the past decade, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned Dr. Fakhrizadeh by name in one of his presentations in 2018.

US President Donald Trump, who withdrew the US from the landmark Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and has imposed new sanctions on Iran since, has only a few weeks left in the White House. There are indications his successor Joe Biden may have a different approach to diplomacy in the region, and might go as far as rejoining the Iran nuclear deal and lifting some economic sanctions.


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