2020 has proven to be a tough year for the Islamic Republic of Iran. It began with the killing of its most important general and terrorist mastermind, Qassem Soleimani, and now appears to be ending with the killing of a key military nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi. While the exact details of his death remain murky and Iran has offered competing accounts of events from that day, the outpouring of commentary after Fakhrizadeh’s death from Iranian politicians, military personnel, and media outlets matters greatly, as well as helps shed light on Tehran’s immediate political concerns, security imperatives, as well as prospects for retaliation and escalation.

Who Was Fakhrizadeh and Why Did He Matter?

According to Persian-language accounts, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was born in Qom (though some outlets say Tehran), Iran in 1957/1958 (1336 in the Persian calendar). Despite being known for his service of Iran’s nuclear pursuits, Fakhrizadeh got his start in the military arena, being an early member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) which was founded shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution as a parallel military institution to the country’s national military (called the Artesh). During the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, Fakhrizadeh served with the IRGC’s 17th Ali Ibn Abu Talib Division and partook in operations that reportedly included Operation Ramadan. Later in that same war, Fakhrizadeh worked with the father of Iran’s missile program, Hassan Tehrani-Moghadam, helping lay the foundation for Iran’s diverse ballistic missile arsenal. Reportedly, Fakhrizadeh attained the rank of Brigadier General, and as early as 1983 began working on nuclear matters for the IRGC under a special research entity called “Team-32.”

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Read the full article at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.