Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran's top nuclear scientist was killed by an artificial intelligence (AI)-controlled machine gun.
According to Revolutionary Guards deputy commander Brigadier General Ali Fadavi, Iran's nuclear scientist Fakhrizadeh was killed in a convoy outside Tehran on November using a satellite-controlled machine gun with AI.
General Fadavi explained that the weapon, which was mounted in a pick-up truck, used AI to be able to shoot Fakhrizadeh without hitting his wife beside him. Iran has pinned the assassination on Israel and an exiled opposition group.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied the allegations regarding the attack.
Conflicting accounts on the attack
Iranian authority's accounts of the assassination of the nuclear scientist as he traversed the town of Absard have been conflicting.
Initially following the attack, the defense ministry claimed that there was a gunfight between Fakhrizadeh's bodyguards and several gunmen. One report quoted witnesses claiming that "three to four individuals, who are said to have been terrorists, were killed" and that a Nissan pick-up exploded at the scene.
On the other hand, the head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council said in a speech at Fakhrizadeh's funeral that it was actually a remote attack, using "special methods" and "electronic equipment".
General Fadavi claimed that a machine-gun mounted on the Nissan pick-up was "equipped with an intelligent satellite system which zoomed in on martyr Fakhrizadeh" and "was using artificial intelligence".
He pointed out that the machine-gun "focused only on martyr Fakhrizadeh's face in a way that his wife, despite being only 25cm [10 inches] away, was not shot".
He also said that there were no human attackers at the scene and that "in total 13 bullets were fired and all of them were shot from the [weapon] in the Nissan". He added that Fakhrizadeh's head of security took four bullets "as he threw himself" on the scientist.
Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed vengeance for the scientist and assured the "definitive punishment" of those behind the attack.
An Israeli public radio report revealed that security officials sent out warnings to some former nuclear scientists who used to work at the reactor in Dimona, a top secret nuclear site located in the Negev desert.
Who was Mohsen Fakhrizadeh?
Prior to his demise, Fakhrizadeh was serving as head of Iran's Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, better known by its Persian acronym SPND. It was said that the scientist was critical in Iran's nuclear program.
Israeli and Western security sources believe that Fakhrizadeh headed "Project Amad", a covert program that Iran allegedly created in 1989 to develop a potential nuclear bomb. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the project was shut down in 2003.
However, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in 2018 that they have obtained proof showing Fakhrizadeh led a program that was secretly continuing what Project Amad started.
Iran denied this and insisted that the country's nuclear program is entirely peaceful and that it has never wanted a nuclear weapon.
According to analysts, the objective of the attack on Fakhrizadeh was not to disable the Iranian nuclear program but rather to end the possibility of the US rejoining the 2015 Iran nuclear deal as soon as President-elect Joe Biden takes office next year.
