A new report from the semi-official Iranian Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the Iranian government, contradicted nearly all previous reports about the series of events that unfolded that led to the death of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
Initial reports said that a car bomb was detonated near a car that Fahrizadeh was riding in as he was on his way to visit his in-laws outside of Tehran. The New York Times reported that a squad of operatives then jumped out of an SUV and opened fire on the car. The Times of Israel reported that three of Fahrizadeh’s bodyguards were killed in the coordinated strike before all the operatives reportedly escaped.
However, a new series of claims from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) affiliated Fars News Agency alleges that there were no operatives with guns jumping out of vehicles and shooting at the car.
Barak Ravid, a reporter with Israel’s Walla News and a contributor at Axios, tweeted out a summary of the press release from Fars News Agency.
“According to the report, Fakhrizadeh and his wife were on their way to spend the weekend at their house in a Tehran suburb. There were three security cars with them and at a certain point the leading car left the motorcade to do a preliminary security check of the house,” he wrote. “Right after the car at the front of the motorcade left shots were fired on Fakhrizadeh’s car and it stopped. Fakhrizadeh stepped out of the car thinking his car hit an object on the road or there was a problem with the engine.”
“At that point shots were fired again from a Nisan pickup truck which stopped 150 meters from Fakhrizadeh’s car. The shots were fired from an automatic machine gun which was mounted on the pickup truck and operated by remote control,” he continued. “Fakhrizadeh was hit by three bullets – one hit him in the spine. Seconds later the Nisan pickup truck exploded in what looks like a self destruct mechanism. According to Fars news, Iranian security forces identified the owner of the pickup truck who left Iran on October 29th.”
“Fars reported the assassination operation lasted only three minutes and was all done by remote control with no gunmen on the ground,” he concluded.