Iran’s most senior nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh has been assassinated near the capital Tehran, the country’s defence ministry has confirmed.
Fakhrizadeh died in hospital after being attacked in Damavand county.
Iranian news agencies said assailants targeted his car with a bomb before shooting at him.
Western intelligence agencies view him as the mastermind behind Iran’s secret nuclear weapons programme.
He was reportedly been described as the “father of the Iranian bomb” by diplomats.
I mean, maybe it’s just coincidence, or maybe it’s cleaning up odds and ends.
Speaking of cleaning up odds and ends, I believe this is unrelated: The directive, which the Pentagon’s White House liaison Joshua Whitehouse sent on Wednesday afternoon, removes 11 high-profile advisors from the Defense Policy Board, including former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright; retired Adm. Gary Roughead, who served as chief of naval operations; and a onetime ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, Jane Harman. Rudy De Leon, a former chief operating officer at the Pentagon once considered by then-Defense Secretary James Mattis for a high-level policy role, will also be ousted.

