IRGC spokesman denies Hossein Salami's threat of "harsh revenge" against those responsible for Fakhrizadeh's killing

On Sunday, December 29, the IRGC spokesman denied a tweet by the force's commander, Hossein Salami, who said that "revenge and severe punishment" for those who killed nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was "on the agenda."

On December 27, Mr. Salami wrote on a Twitter page attributed to him that "the hardened enemies of the Iranian nation, especially the planners, perpetrators, and supporters of this crime, should know that such crimes will not undermine the determination of the Iranian people to continue this glorious and authoritative path."

He added: "Revenge and severe punishment for them are on the agenda."

The IRGC commander's tweet has been liked more than eight thousand times and shared more than a thousand times.

Now, Tasnim News Agency, citing the Revolutionary Guards' spokesman, Ramadan Sharif, has denied "news attributed to the commander-in-chief of the IRGC in cyberspace about how to take revenge on the perpetrators of Fakhrizadeh's assassination."

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who had been dubbed the "mysterious and nuclear man" of the Islamic Republic, was killed on December 27th following a deadly operation in the Damavand gorge. Some Iranian officials and media immediately pointed the finger of blame at Israel, which has been repeatedly accused of assassinating the Islamic Republic's nuclear scientists in the past.

Officials and media outlets in the Islamic Republic have offered contradictory accounts of the details of the operation, while also offering conflicting responses to the action.

In the latest account of Friday's operation, the Fars news agency, which is close to the Revolutionary Guards, reported that the shooting at Mohsen Fakhrizadeh's car was carried out using "automatic weapons" and that "no human agents were present at the scene of the assassination."

According to the news agency, the entire operation lasted "three minutes."

The publication of this report comes at a time when the Islamic Republic's Ministry of Intelligence issued a statement saying that "clues have been obtained regarding the perpetrators of the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh."

The security ministry, under the supervision of Hassan Rouhani, has also promised that additional information will be announced "subsequently."

Ali Bagheri Kani, Deputy Minister for International Affairs of the Judiciary, also said that "in addition to domestic capacity, we will utilize all transnational capacities to prosecute, pursue, and prosecute the perpetrators and those who ordered the assassination of Martyr Fakhrizadeh."

He considered the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh "a punishment for a nation."

On the other hand, Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, has denied the comments made by Javad Karimi Ghoddousi, a member of parliament, about the Agency's officials' conversations with Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in the past.

Mr. Kamalvandi says: "This is fundamentally untrue. Fakhrizadeh has not had any meetings or discussions with the former Director General, inspectors, or officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency."

Javad Karimi Ghodousi had criticized Hassan Rouhani on December 28 by publishing a tweet, saying to him, "During your presidency of the executive branch, and at the insistence of the enemy and your Excellency's personal emphasis, our country's nuclear scientist Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh met with Yukiya Amano, the former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency."

He warned the Iranian president that "one day you will definitely have to answer in a court of law for so easily making the country's assets available to Mossad spies and murderers."

This claim had previously been denied by the Deputy for Communications and Information of the President's Office, and Alireza Moezzi wrote in a tweet that "persisting in lying for years is not normal at all."

Source: Radio Farda