Iran Sentences 3 To Death Over Assassination Of Nuclear Scientist

Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh is known as the father of the Islamic republic's nuclear program and had been under U.S. sanctions for his role in Iran's nuclear research.

Iran's judiciary says three people have been sentenced to death by a lower court over the killing in 2020 of Iran's top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, in what Tehran says was an Israeli-orchestrated operation.

"The sentencing of these three people was carried out in the Revolutionary Court of Urmia, and they were sentenced to death in the initial stage, and the case is currently in the appeal stage," Asghar Jahangir, a spokesman for Iran's judiciary, said at a news conference in Tehran.

Urmia is a town In Iran's northwestern province of West Azerbaijan close to the border with Turkey.

The sentencing of the three, who have not been named, comes at a time of rising tensions between Iran and Israel amid the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.

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Israel has been blamed for the assassination of at least four other Iranian nuclear scientists suspected of working on Tehran's military nuclear program.

Fakhrizadeh, known as the father of the Islamic republic's nuclear program, had been under U.S. sanctions for his role in Iran's nuclear research and Israel accused him in 2018 of being the architect of Iran's efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.

"After some investigations, three out of eight people arrested in West Azerbaijan province were accused of spying for the occupying regime of Israel," Jahangir said, adding that the case is now in the "appeal stage."

The three were also accused of bringing unspecified equipment from abroad into Iran for the attack "under the guise of smuggling alcoholic drinks."

Jahangir said the case against the other defendants is still ongoing.

Fakhrizadeh was assassinated in a brazen ambush of his vehicle in the town of Absard, near Tehran on November 27, 2020, which Iran at the time blamed on Israel while suggesting the United States also had an indirect or direct role.

The circumstances of the attack remain unclear. Initial reports immediately after the killing suggested Fakhrizadeh was targeted by a truckful of explosives, several gunmen, and a suicide attacker.

Just days later, the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) offered a different account, saying a machine gun equipped with a "satellite-controlled smart system" that employed "artificial intelligence" was used in the pinpointed killing of the scientist that left his wife, who was traveling with him, unharmed.

Israel has not commented on Fakhrizadeh's killing.