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On December 6, 2020, Iran's Tasnim news agency aired an archival speech by Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the Director of Iran's Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, who was assassinated on November 27, 2020. Fakhrizadeh stressed the importance of establishing a nuclear infrastructure in Iran as a balancing measure against nuclear development elsewhere in the region. Fakhrizadeh elaborated that Iran had been caught off-guard by Iraq's chemical warfare during the Iran-Iraq War, and he argued that it is necessary to establish nuclear infrastructure in Iran in order to avoid similar vulnerability in the nuclear field. He added that the IAEA and the United Nations remain silent in face of nuclear threats against Iran. Fakhrizadeh's remarks were made at a dedication ceremony for a clinic for victims of nuclear reactions at Iran's Chamran Hospital. The date of the speech is unknown, and it was posted online on December 6, 2020.
To view the clip of assassinated Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh on MEMRI TV, click here or below.
"We See How The Superpowers Make Nuclear Weapon-Related Threats, And These Threats Are Escalating"
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh: "[Saddam's use of chemical weapons] was a bitter experience that taught us that we must be careful on all fronts, so that we will not be surprised. Currently, we see how the superpowers make nuclear weapon-related threats, and these threats are escalating.
[...]
"When such matters surface we see that no international body, not even the IAEA or the U.N., says anything about it.
[...]
"Nuclear Expansion [In The Region] Requires Us To Establish Balancing Infrastructure"
"As for our region it is becoming nuclear. Look at Saudi Arabia. It has vast nuclear plans, like the King Fahd plan. The UAE are also vigorously pursuing this path.
"As for Pakistan and India, things are clear. This [nuclear] expansion requires us to establish balancing infrastructure. If this infrastructure is not established, and considering the probability that things will happen – whether in Iran, in the region, or internationally... If we were chemically vulnerable back then, we will definitely be much more vulnerable in this [nuclear] field now.
"Therefore, this clinic is part of the required infrastructure, and we need to work on other areas of our nuclear defense."
