Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was seen as the force behind Iran’s nuclear weapons program. News reports in Iran say he died after being attacked in a vehicle.
Iran’s top nuclear scientist, who American and Israeli intelligence have long charged was behind secret programs to design an atomic warhead, was shot and killed on Friday as he was traveling in a vehicle in northern Iran, Iranian state media reported.
The scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, believed to be 59, has been considered the driving force behind Iran’s nuclear weapons program for two decades, and continued to work after the main part of the effort was quietly disbanded in the early 2000s, according to American intelligence assessment.
Mr. Fakhrizadeh was shot as his car was driving through the countryside town of Absard, in the Damavand region, according to official Iranian media and state television.
The state media accounts said that Mr. Fakhrizadeh had been gravely wounded in the attack, and that doctors tried to save him in the hospital but could not.
