J Street denounces killing of top Iranian nuclear scientist

The dovish lobby group J Street denounces the killing of top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, saying it appears aimed at “the sabotage” of any effort by US President-elect Joe Biden to rejoin 2015 agreement curbing Iran’s nuclear program.

“It seems those who oppose the JCPOA will stop at nothing to kill the agreement once and for all,” J Street head Jeremy Ben-Ami says in a statement.

Ben-Ami hits out at critics of the deal and the “disastrous consequences” of President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the accord.

“The facts speak for themselves. Iran now has twelve times as much enriched uranium as when Trump took office. Its forces have openly launched missiles at US troops. The Iranian people — suffering cruel sanctions in the midst of a pandemic — blame the United States rather than their own government’s hardliners for their predicament,” he says.

He also urges Congress “to make clear that it supports diplomacy as the primary means to address threats emanating from Iran” and calls on Tehran not to respond, with Biden set to take office.

Fakhrizadeh was alleged to be the head of Iran’s nuclear weapons program and was reportedly long a top target of the Mossad.