Explained: What does the killing of nuclear scientist Fakhrizadeh mean for Iran?

The assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a top Iranian nuclear scientist and a brigadier general in the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, on the outskirts of Tehran on Friday has triggered a new crisis in West Asia. Fakhrizadeh, according to the U.S. and Israel, had overseen Iran’s nuclear weapons programme in the 1990s and early 2000s, and remained a key figure in the country’s nuclear programme and the Defence Ministry. Iran started violating the terms of the nuclear deal, called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, after President Trump unilaterally pulled the U.S. out of the agreement in May 2018. It’s hardly a secret that Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Trump administration would want to stop the Iran nuclear deal being revived, which could lead to the lifting of sanctions on Iran and leave the Islamic Republic stronger. If it takes any major retaliatory steps, it could escalate the conflict, providing room for Israel and the Trump administration to take rapid military steps, which would cut off the diplomatic path for Mr. Biden to take the U.S. back to the nuclear deal.