29 Facts About Mohsen Fakhrizadeh

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Mahabadi was an Iranian nuclear physicist and scientist.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was regarded as the chief of Iran's nuclear program.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh attended Shahid Beheshti University and later received a PhD from the University of Isfahan.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh led the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research and the Green Salt Project.

In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was the head of the AMAD Project.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh became a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after the Iranian revolution in 1979.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh continued his education at the Isfahan University of Technology and received a PhD in nuclear radiation and cosmic rays.

In 2020, following his death, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was said to have been a key figure in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit Iran particularly hard.

Iran's Defense Minister Amir Hatami reported that Mohsen Fakhrizadeh had taken "great strides in the field of developing COVID-19 vaccine", later named FAKHRAVAC.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh added that the center led by Fakhrizadeh went through the first phase of clinical human trials and "did great things for our dear people".

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was identified as a "key figure" in a 2007 report by the UN on Iran's nuclear programme.

In 2010, The Guardian reported that Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was believed to be in charge of Iran's nuclear programme.

Western intelligence agencies, including those of the United States, alleged that Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was in charge of Iran's nuclear programme, Project 111, which they contend is or was an attempt to create a nuclear bomb for Iran; Iran has denied that its nuclear programme has a military aspect.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was referred to as the director of the Green Salt Project.

In November 2021, Fereydoon Abbasi, former head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, hinted that Mohsen Fakhrizadeh had worked on a nuclear weapons program, despite Khamenei's fatwa against nuclear weapons.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was one of the notables who received an Order of Service by Hassan Rouhani as well.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh reportedly questioned the efficacy of the deal, saying "America can't be compromised with".

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh had his own security detail and lived in a secure compound.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh had reportedly escaped an assassination attempt in the past.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was rarely mentioned in Iranian state media and was typically referred to as a university professor.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh then urged his audience to "remember his [Fakhrizadeh's] name".

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh insisted on returning to Tehran the same day.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh's death followed the assassination of Qasem Soleimani by the US in January 2020 and the 2020 Iran explosions.

On 27 November 2020, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was ambushed while traveling in a black Nissan Teana on a rural road in Absard, a city near Tehran.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh had been traveling between Tehran and his weekend villa: the area around Absard is filled with vacation villas.

The report confirmed the Iranian claim of an automated machine gun being used, claiming that Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed by a remotely-operated one-ton automated gun that had been smuggled into Iran piece by piece before being assembled, and which included a bomb so that it could self-destruct, though contrary to Iranian claims it was not satellite-operated.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was reportedly hit in the back by a bullet, injuring his spinal cord.

IRGC Deputy Commander-in-Chief Ali Fadavi and the Jewish Chronicle report both claimed that Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was hit by 13 rounds.

Iranian officials stated that Mohsen Fakhrizadeh would receive "the burial of a national hero at one of the country's holiest shrines".