BEIRUT, LEBANON (7:00 P.M.) – In his first comment on the issue, the presumed winner of the US presidential election, Joe Biden, noted the difficulty of predicting the extent to which the assassination of Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh would affect relations between the two countries.
Biden said, in an interview with CNN on Thursday that it is “difficult to say” to what extent the assassination of Fakhrizadeh, who was considered a key scientist in Tehran, would complicate dealing with Iran.
The newly elected president stressed that the crux of the matter lies in the need to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, directing in this context strong criticism of the policies of the current President Donald Trump towards Tehran, including Washington’s withdrawal from the nuclear agreement concluded in 2015 between the Islamic Republic and the 5 + 1 group.
Biden questioned the effectiveness of Trump’s approach, noting that Iran, in response to US pressure, had increased its capabilities to acquire nuclear materials and approached the level required to develop nuclear weapons, not to mention the problems related to missiles.
Biden acknowledged that these issues are very complex, adding: “I know one thing, which is that we cannot achieve this on our own, and therefore we must be part of a larger group and deal not with Iran alone, but with Russia and China and with a range of other issues.”
Fakhrizadeh, who headed the Research and Innovation Organization of the Iranian Defense Ministry, was assassinated a week ago in the suburbs of Tehran.
