No hit man was involved in the recent assassination of Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said.
An earlier report said the Iranian nuclear scientist was assassinated by a remote controlled machine gun that was mounted on a white SUV.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of burial of the late Iranian scientist on Monday, Ali Shamkhani said the scientist was assassinated in a complicated operation that involved electronic equipment without any assassin at the scene, Tasnim News reported.
“Unfortunately, the operation was a very complicated one. It took place with the employment of electronic equipment. No person (assassin)was present at the scene,” he explained.
Footage and photos of the site do not show any signs of a gunfight between Fakhrizadeh’s guards and the supposed hitmen. One blurry video shows the back of a white pick up truck which earlier reports say was the assassins’ vehicle
Pointing to the clues that Iran has found about the attack, Shamkhani said, “It has become clear to us who has masterminded this and what its background is. The Munafeqin (Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization) have been involved for sure, and the criminal element in this job is definitely the Zionist regime and Mossad.”
He said the Iranian intelligence systems had “precisely predicted the possibility of an attack on him (Fakhrizadeh) and the possible location of the incident”, but the required seriousness was not taken into account this time “because of the frequency of reports (of possible attacks) over 20 years.”
The enemy had carried out many abortive operations throughout these years, which have not been publicized, the senior security official added.
Fakhrizadeh, a senior nuclear and defense scientist, was assassinated in a small city east of Tehran on November 27.
However, from images of Fakhrizadeh's car, it does not look as if it came under heavy machine gun fire. the car has barely a few bullet holes. The car is intact from all sides and the bullet holes in it appear to be from small arms-an automatic rifle at the most.
The bullets are in the front and to the rear left of the car. Not something which can be caused by a single automatic machine gun. The bullet holes to the rear left are more than those in front indicating that the target was seated at the rear and assassins know precisely where he would be.