Iran denounces the double standards of the international community
Last Friday, scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was linked to Iran's nuclear programme, was killed while in his vehicle. Despite the impact of the news, the international community, which is following Iran's nuclear development with concern, called for moderation on both sides more firmly than the condemnation of the scientist's murder. All eyes immediately fell on Israel, which Iran does not hesitate to accuse of being the main instigator of the attack.
Mohsen, who was buried today, was named as a new martyr at the ceremony attended by the defence minister Amir Hatami and the commander of the Revolutionary Guard, Hossein Salami. Hatami declared in his speech that "Who was known only by his students and comrades, is now known all over the world. And this is the first defeat that our enemies will suffer". Hatami has also announced that the investment in this area will be doubled in order to continue with the work that the scientist was doing.
In addition to Israel, the People's Mujahedeen (MEK), an Iranian group that opposes the regime of the Ayatollahs, is being accused from Tehran. Iran accuses the community of lukewarmness in condemning this attack precisely because of Israel's possible involvement, something which, according to high-ranking Iranian officials, is evidence of the "double standards" of actors such as the European Union, which is using the call for moderation precisely to moderate its condemnation of this attack.
It should be remembered that Iran announced that it would not respect the enrichment limits imposed by the nuclear agreement signed in 2015 with Germany, France, China, the United Kingdom, Russia and the United States – which Donald Trump removed from the agreement in 2018 – right after the United States also murdered Qasem Soleimani. Since then the European Union has attempted to get Iran to return to the negotiating table and to reverse its intentions to resume the nuclear development programme. Indeed, after the United States left, the European Union made a major effort to compensate for the sanctions imposed by the United States on Tehran, as Iran was still within the JCPOA.
The foreign minister, Mohamad Javad Zarif, was the most vehement critic of the international community's lukewarmness in condemning the attack, calling the call for containment "shameful". He has done so through Twitter and using several languages to record Iran's discontent with this interference. Zarif has also alluded to the violation of international law and has not hesitated to qualify Israel as a terrorist regime. One of the most noteworthy aspects is that among those who have roundly condemned the attack, in addition to groups with broad links to Teheran such as Hamas and Hezbollah, are Turkey, Syria and Qatar. The links between Bachar al-Assad's regime and Qatar with Iran were already known, but now Turkey's support has been added, which would mean strengthening relations between Doha, Ankara and Teheran, particularly when it comes to escaping the sanctions applied to them, mainly by the United States, and would involve establishing a new triangle that could affect the situation in the Middle East. This triangle could also clash with the recent normalisation of relations with Israel by countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.