Iran Pledges 'Calculated' Response to Nuclear Scientist’s Killing

The coffin of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh carried in Mashhad, Iran November 29, 2020. Massoud Nozari/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
The coffin of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh carried in Mashhad, Iran November 29, 2020. Massoud Nozari/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
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Iran Pledges 'Calculated' Response to Nuclear Scientist’s Killing

The coffin of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh carried in Mashhad, Iran November 29, 2020. Massoud Nozari/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
The coffin of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh carried in Mashhad, Iran November 29, 2020. Massoud Nozari/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iran will give a "calculated and decisive" response to the killing of its top nuclear scientist, said a top adviser to Iran's supreme leader.

"Undoubtedly, Iran will give a calculated and decisive answer to the criminals who took Martyr Mohsen Fakhrizadeh from the Iranian nation," Kamal Kharrazi, who is also head of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, said in a statement.

Fakhrizadeh, long suspected by Western and Israeli government of masterminding a secret nuclear weapons program, was ambushed on a highway near Tehran on Friday and gunned down in his car.

The clerical and military rulers have blamed Israel for the killing. Iran has in the past accused Israel of killing several Iranian nuclear scientists since 2010.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has declined to comment on the killing. An Israeli cabinet minister, Tzachi Hanegbi, said on Saturday he did not know who carried it out.

Also Sunday, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said Tehran won’t “fall into the trap” of scuppering any future talks with the incoming Biden administration following Fakhrizadeh’s assassination.

“Iran’s scientific and defense policies won’t change because of the assassination of one scientist or general,” Rabiei said in a statement posted on the government’s official website. Iran “shouldn’t fall into the trap of linking the assassination to past nuclear negotiations,” he said.

Tensions have been high between Tehran and Washington since 2018, when President Donald Trump exited Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with six major powers and reimposed sanctions that have hit Iran's economy hard. In retaliation, Tehran has gradually breached the deal's curbs on its nuclear program.

President-elect Joe Biden has said he will return the United States to the deal if Iran resumes compliance. Iran has always denied pursuing nuclear weapons.



Dutch Summon Israeli Ambassador, Impose Travel Ban on Ministers 

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir (C) attends a plenary session to vote on a bill for applying Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank territory, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, 23 July 2025. (EPA)
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir (C) attends a plenary session to vote on a bill for applying Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank territory, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, 23 July 2025. (EPA)
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Dutch Summon Israeli Ambassador, Impose Travel Ban on Ministers 

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir (C) attends a plenary session to vote on a bill for applying Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank territory, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, 23 July 2025. (EPA)
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir (C) attends a plenary session to vote on a bill for applying Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank territory, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, 23 July 2025. (EPA)

The Netherlands will ban two far-right Israeli ministers from entering the country, in the latest European response to the rapidly deteriorating situation in Gaza, the country's foreign minister said. 

The ban and other measures were announced in a letter Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp sent to lawmakers late Monday evening, declaring “The war in Gaza must stop.” 

The ban targets hard-line National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, key partners in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition. 

The pair are champions of the Israeli settlement movement who support continuing the war in Gaza, facilitating what they call the voluntary emigration of its Palestinian population and the building of Jewish settlements there. 

Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway imposed financial sanctions on the two men last month. 

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar delivered a formal reprimand to the ambassador of the Netherlands in response to the criticism. 

Saar said in a post on X that the Dutch government “chose to convert a long-standing friendship with Israel into open hostility towards it, precisely during its difficult time, probably out of political interests”. 

Later on Tuesday, leaders will meet in Brussels to discuss a European Union response, including evaluating a trade agreement between the bloc and Israel. The Netherlands wants part of that agreement to be suspended. 

Ben-Gvir and Smotrich remained defiant. In a statement on social media, Smotrich said European leaders were surrendering to “the lies of radical Islam” and that Jews may not be able to live safely in Europe in the future. 

Ben-Gvir said he will “continue to act” and said that in Europe “a Jewish minister from Israel is unwanted, terrorists are free, and Jews are boycotted.” 

Pressure has been mounting on the Dutch government, which is gearing up for elections in October, to change course on Israeli policy. Last week, thousands demonstrated at train stations across the country, carrying pots and pans to signify the food shortage in Gaza. 

The government will also summon the Israeli ambassador to the Netherlands to urge Netanyahu to change course and “immediately take measures that lead to a substantial and rapid improvement in the humanitarian situation throughout the Gaza Strip,” Veldkamp wrote. 

After international pressure, Israel over the weekend announced humanitarian pauses, airdrops and other measures meant to allow more aid to Palestinians in Gaza. But people there say little or nothing has changed on the ground. The UN has described it as a one-week scale-up of aid, and Israel has not said how long these latest measures would last. 

Israel asserts that Hamas is the reason aid isn’t reaching Palestinians in Gaza and accuses its fighters of siphoning off aid to support its rule in the territory. The UN denies that looting of aid is systematic and says it lessens or ends entirely when enough aid is allowed to enter Gaza. 

Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, are currently wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. The men are accused of using “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid, and of intentionally targeting civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. Member states of the ICC are obliged to arrest the men if they arrive on their territory.