TEHRAN – Iran’s Parliament seeks to mandate the government to end the inspections of Iranian nuclear and military installations by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a lawmaker said on Saturday.

“A statement condemning the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh will be read out in an open session of the Majlis tomorrow, mandating the government to retaliate quickly against U.S. and Israeli terrorist leaders and to reduce the level of the Agency’s inspections of nuclear and military facilities to zero,” Nasrollah Pezhmanfar said in a tweet on Saturday.

The remarks came a day after Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a professor of physics at Imam Hussein University who headed the Defense Ministry's Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), was martyred in a terrorist attack while travelling near Absard city in Tehran Province's northeast Damavand County.

Early in 2018, the Israeli sources had acknowledged that Mossad had tried to assassinate an Iranian nuclear scientist, but its operation failed. 

MP Jalil Rahimi Jahanabadi, also a member of the parliamentary committee, wrote, “Faith and science cannot be wiped out with terrorism.”

Nasrollah Motafaker Azad, a member of the Parliament Presiding Board, also tweeted, “The least response to this act is to terminate all the (International) Atomic Energy Agency inspections.”

Motafaker Azad also said, “We should take strategic rather than tactical decisions.”

 ‘Black mark on forehead of Moassad and CIA’

Fada Hossein Maleki, a former diplomat who sits on the parliamentary security committee, said the assassination of Fakhrizadeh is a “black mark on the forehead of Moassad and CIA” spy services.

Maleki said the assassination in the last days of Trump’s presidency is intended to trigger a full-fledged war in the region but Iran will give a “crushing response to this crime”. 

Other Iranian officials, commanders and lawmakers have also condemned Israel for the targeted killing, vowing to take revenge at an appropriate time.

Chairman of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee has said the Islamic Republic will definitely take revenge from the criminal Zionists.

“The cowardly assassination of martyr Fakhrizadeh will not go unanswered,” Mojtaba Zonnour said in a tweet on Saturday.

Abbas Moghtadaie, who is the deputy chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said, “Now the entire Iran says tough revenge for terror. Tough revenge will be taken. Do not doubt it.” 

‘Scientific progress cannot be thwarted with assassination of individuals’

Homayoun Sameyah Najafabadi, who represents the Jewish community in Iran, said Iran’s scientific progress cannot be thwarted with the assassination of individuals.

“The enemy thinks that science and knowledge in the Islamic Republic of Iran depend on the individual and they can stop the progress of science and knowledge in Iran by assassinating individuals,” Sameyah Najafabadi told Fars news agency on Saturday.

“The fact is that this perception of the enemy is completely wrong, and scientific progress in our country does not depend on individuals, and although we have prominent scientific personalities, their assassination does not lead the enemy to his goal of hindering our scientific progress,” he added.

Ahmad Amirabadi, a member of the Majlis presiding board, said, “The enemies of the Iranian nation should know that this blind act will not cause a crack in the will of the Iranian nation.”

‘Parliamentary committee to hold emergency meeting’ 

Abolfazl Amouei, the spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said lawmakers are planning to hold an extraordinary session to review the assassination of Fakhrizadeh.

“Lawmakers will hold a session in the next 24 hours to address the assassination of the Iranian nuclear scientist,” Amouei said on Saturday.

He pointed out that Iran’s security officials have been invited to take part in the meeting.

“The Majlis is currently studying the strategic action plan for lifting the sanctions with priority,” Amouei said. “Part of the plan is related to the revival of our country’s nuclear program and it will definitely be pursued with more capacity.”

The MP emphasized that the vicious terrorist attack will definitely impact the Parliament’s pursuit of the strategic action plan on sanctions.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s ambassador and permanent representative to the Vienna-based international organizations, said it was clear who was behind the killing.

“For my part, I offer my condolences to the Supreme Leader, the scientific community, the defense industry, the wife and dear children of this great martyr,” Gharibabadi said in a post on his Instagram account.

MH/PA