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27 Nov, 32 tweets, 11 min read
BREAKING: Another Iranian nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizaddh, has been assassinated, Iranian media report. Iran has blamed Israel for past assassinations of nuclear scientists.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu named Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in 2018 in a presentation about Iran’s nuclear program.
Via @paulrubens
Important thread on this killing and past assassinations by Israel 👇🏽
Netanyahu has been a top opponent of diplomacy with Iran from day one and used everything in his power to stop the Iran deal under Obama.
Iranian foreign minister reaction
Anti-war groups are concerned about this assassination complicating Biden’s plan for diplomacy with Iran.
Middle East expert @AssalRad
Trump claimed he is the best negotiator and kept promising a better deal with Iran. But his Iran policy has been a complete failure.
This assassination will have a chilling effect on Iran’s political space; the atmosphere will be even more securitized, civil society and political opposition will be pressured even more, and the anti-West discourse will be strengthened in Iran’s upcoming presidential election.
Peace activists warn of the impact of this assassination on Biden’s Iran policy.
Anti-war group @PeaceAction👇🏽
Policy Director @defpriorities👇🏽
How would media cover this if the situation was reversed?
Netanyahu has long tried to sabotage US-Iran diplomacy.
Former American diplomat 👇🏽
Trump/Pompeo are soon leaving the White House with a policy that failed to curb Iran’s nuclear program or change its regional presence. Biden in contrast has a clear plan for diplomacy and a high chance for success.
Past assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists did not affect Iran's nuclear program but instead increased tensions between Iran and the West and made diplomacy harder and more complicated.
These assassinations have little impact on Iran's nuclear policy. But they have a psychological effect on the country's political space, making it more difficult and dangerous to criticize the nuclear policy, tying the hands of Iran's pro-diplomacy camp.
Important: The @StateDept recently reaffirmed there are currently no nuclear weapons activities in Iran.
The MEK recently highlighted #MohsenFakhrizadeh as the person running an alleged nuclear site near Tehran. Netanyahu also highlighted his name in 2018.
This assassination will provoke Iran to react, it will increase the already high level of tensions between Tehran and Washington, complicate Biden's future negotiations with Iran, and strengthen the anti-diplomacy camp in Iran.
Democratic Senator warns of the dangerous trend set by these assassinations and the normalization of extrajudicial killings. We already saw that when Iran tried to retaliate against past assassinations by bombing plots against Israeli diplomats worldwide.
Trump/Pompeo/Netanyahu will frame this assassination as a way to limit Iran's nuclear program. But past assassinations proved the opposite. The real impact is to tie the hands of pro-diplomacy camps in Washington and Tehran, and prevent future agreements.
A policy that has proven to be ineffective and dangerous, is repeatedly framed in simplistic and false terms. Important note from @IlhanMN policy advisor here:
Important comment from @GeraldoRivera.
Former CIA director calls this assassination "criminal" and "highly reckless", rightfully points out the higher risks of retaliation and regional conflict, and advises Iran to continue strategic patience until Biden comes into office in January.
Retired Israeli general says this assassination can lead Iran to a violent response which will then provide a pretext for Trump to attack Iranian nuclear facilities, as he wanted, before he leaves the White House.
Important for @JoeBiden @KamalaHarris or their foreign policy team @ABlinken @jakejsullivan to push back against these assassinations, the dangerous precedence they set, and the risk of a response from Iran that will further increase tensions and bring the region closer to war.
Trump and allies will try to frame this assassination the same way they tried to justify Soleimani's killing last year. Here is an important note from former CIA director on why these killings are far different than killing ISIS and Al-Qaeda leaders.
The assassination will either provoke Tehran to retaliate and bring Iran and the US closer to war, or even if Iran doesn't retaliate it will complicate the path to diplomacy for the incoming Biden admin.

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More from @NegarMortazavi

Negar Mortazavi Profile picture
4 Mar
Doctors, nurses and health workers in #Iran are risking their lives to fight #Coronavirus in a shortage of resources and equipment, but they are not losing their spirit.
Another dance video from the frontline of the fight against #Coronavirus in Iran. Every day a new video comes out and energizes and inspires people to keep fighting.
Another dance video from health workers at a hospital in #Iran in full gear fighting the #Coronavirus with high spirits. This has turned into a challenge and new videos keep coming... (thread)
Read 7 tweets
Negar Mortazavi Profile picture
11 Jan
QUESTION @HassanRouhani

On the night of a military operation with the chance of a retaliatory response and while air defense systems are on highest alert, why allow civilian planes fly over the capital to lead to such a devastating yet preventable tragedy?

#PS572
After a week of official denials that opened the door to lots of rumors and conspiracies, and in the middle of a politicized media atmosphere, this official acknowledgement and detailed explanation is a good first step towards transparency and responsibility. Also unprecedented.
This tragedy is very personal to me as a family member flew out of Tehran on another flight right before #PS752. It could have easily been their flight instead. And I have been rethinking this over and over in my mind.

This could happen to many of us, living in or outside Iran.
Read 14 tweets
Negar Mortazavi Profile picture
5 Jan
Just spoke to an Iranian-American living in the West coast. He told me his wife and young children were held for 5-6 hours at the US-Canada border while returning home from Vancouver.

👉🏼 AMERICAN CITIZENS 👈🏼
Know your rights 👇🏼
cair.com/KnowYourRights
Read 4 tweets
Negar Mortazavi Profile picture
10 Jun 19
SCOOP: State Department gave $1.5 million of our tax dollars to @Memarsadeghi, who has been smearing pro diplomacy Americans for years, to continue her attacks under @IranDisinfo.

And @SGhasseminejad, who works at @FDD and has been smearing Americans for years, works for her.
Maryam Memarsadeghi has been granted millions in tax dollars from State Department in the past decade to promote civic education and tolerance in Iran. While she has repeatedly smeared journalists, academics, activists, and civil society organizations here in the US for years.
Congressional staff confirmed to me that @StateDept has suspended the funds and is investigating how @IranDisinfo worked outside the scope of the project.

This project was meant to counter Iranian government propaganda, but they used social media to smear anti-war Americans.
Read 8 tweets
Negar Mortazavi Profile picture
7 Jun 19
As an Iranian-American journalist in exile, I'm used to online attacks. But I didn't expect the State Department to fund them. The ⁦@IranDisinfo project repeatedly tried to discredit me. And I wasn't their only target.

My piece for ⁦@Independent independent.co.uk/voices/us-iran…
I recently found out that I am being smeared through an operation funded by the US Department of State. @IranDisinfo launched in 2018 to expose and counter Iranian government propaganda but has also been smearing human rights activists, academics, and journalists, including me.
Since I joined the US government funded @VOANews in 2010, I‘ve been attacked by trolls from Iranian government.

They use lies to smear and discredit me, try to hack my email and social media, create fake blogs in my name, spread rumors about me to put psychological pressure.
Read 11 tweets
Negar Mortazavi Profile picture
30 May 19
So the @StateDept uses taxpayer money to fund online attacks on @HRW because the organization is researching the human cost of US sanctions in #Iran.

Is this even legal?
“Iran Disinformation Project” website says it was launched in 2018 and is funded by @StateDept Global Engagement Center to expose disinformation coming from the Islamic Republic of Iran.
irandisinfo.org
They use @StateDept funding to attack and smear diaspora Iranian journalists, analysts, academics, and activists, some living in exile.

Here are two BBC Persian journalists @BBCArdalan and @BahmanKalbasi constantly attacked by this project and also by those who run it.
Read 56 tweets

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