Thread by @ordefk

2/ Obama DOD Law of War Manual, issued 2016, restated & endorsed long-held JAG position that "civilian scientists occupying key positions in a weapons program regarded as vital to a nation's national security or war aims [are] liable to legitimate attack." dod.defense.gov/Portals/1/Docu…

3/ Obama Admin's DOD Law of War Manual also restated & endorsed that "more than 900 of the World War II Project Manhattan personnel were civilians, and their participation in the U.S. atomic weapons program was of such importance as to have made them liable to legitimate attack."

4/ Fakhrizadeh more than fit the description: he was not just an Iran nuclear weapons scientist but the program's chief, and per BBC also "head of the ministry of defence's research and innovation organisation." bbc.com/news/world-mid…

5/ Fakhrizadeh was pivotal to bomb program: "There is broad agreement that the killing of Mr. Fakhrizadeh removed a manager with unparalleled knowledge of Iran’s past work & current capabilities, according to a former senior U.S. intelligence official."

wsj.com/articles/irans…

6/ Fakhrizadeh was also Brigadier General of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (part of Iran armed forces), which has in its entirety been designated by US as terrorist org. Per Obama DOD Law of War Manual, F was separately a legit Israeli target because he was IRGC officer.

7/ Thus, existence of Iran-Israel international armed conflict means, according to reasoning of Obama Admin's DOD Law of War Manual, that Israel would have had at least two fully sufficient rationales for killing Fakhrizadeh: his roles in 1) Iran nuke weapon program & 2) IRGC.

8/ Its longtime war against Israel, w/frequent terror attacks, means Iran has no legal grounds to complain if Israel kills Brigadier General & head of nuke arms program designed to provide Iran w/ means to achieve its frequently expressed genocidal goal to wipe #Israel off map.

9/ Iran's vicious war on Israel illustrated by USIP list of dozens of ILLEGAL killings by IRGC, of which Fakhrizadeh was Brigadier General, across 4 continents. This includes scores of Israeli & other Jewish civilians in Argentina, Bulgaria and elsewhere. iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2020/sep/…

10/ Contrary to false claims IRGC Brigadier General #Fakhrizadeh was a civilian scientist leading a peaceful nuclear power research effort, evidence clearly shows his program’s goal was to develop nuclear-armed missiles capable of destroying Israel.

11/ In 2017, while U.S. was in JCPOA, Iran paraded a missile w/ "Death to Israel" written on it in front of Iran's leadership including "moderate" President Rouhani (UK Daily Mail photo)

12/ On another occasion, Iran paraded Shahab-3 missiles. The sign on the front truck says: "Israel must be destroyed."

13/ According to the IAEA's May 2011 report, Iran, led by Fakhrizadeh, designed & modeled "removal of the conventional high explosive payload from the warhead of the Shahab-3 missile and replacing it with a spherical nuclear payload."

iaea.org/sites/default/…

14/ Iran, led by Fakhrizadeh, largely achieved their goal: "Intelligence provided to U.N. nuclear officials shows that Iran’s government has mastered the critical steps needed to build a nuclear weapon." (quote from Washington Post)

washingtonpost.com/world/national…

15/ 2014: Obama sanctions SPND, "Tehran-based entity...primarily responsible for research in the field of nuclear weapons development," led by "Fakhrizadeh, who for many years has managed activities useful in the development of a nuclear explosive device."
2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/20…

16/ November 11, 2020: IAEA expresses renewed concern regarding signs of covert Iranian nuclear program, saying, "The Agency considered Iran’s response to be unsatisfactory because it was not technically credible." iaea.org/sites/default/…

For those who are curious, the Trump Administration has not revised, or issued its own version of, the DOD Law of War Manual issued by the Obama Administration in 2016. The manual is 1193 pages long. dod.defense.gov/Portals/1/Docu…