Assassination in Iran sets stage for tense final 50 days of Trump
01 December 2020
Iranian leaders are weighing their response to the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, known as the father of Iran’s military nuclear program, who was given a state funeral Monday in Tehran.
The big picture: Iran has accused Israel of carrying out Friday’s attack, but senior leaders have suggested that they’ll choose patience over an immediate escalation that could play into the hands of the Israelis and the outgoing Trump administration.
- Still, some sort of Iranian response is likely in the coming weeks — as are further provocations from Israel or the U.S.
Background: The attack on Fakhrizadeh was preceded by a flurry of meetings between anti-Iran leaders — including one involving Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
- An increasingly cohesive anti-Iran axis — consisting of Israel and several Gulf countries — has sent clear signals to the incoming Biden administration that it will oppose any attempts to return to the 2015 nuclear deal.
- Meanwhile, the Trump administration has been attempting to block Biden’s path back to the deal by stoking tensions and piling on new sanctions, aided by Israel.
What to watch: Biden says the U.S. will return to the deal (which would require lifting sanctions) if Iran returns to compliance, but Fakhrizadeh’s killing could make a swift pivot to U.S.-Iran diplomacy much more challenging.
Zoom out: With 50 days left between now and Biden’s inauguration, governments across the Middle East are preparing for a post-Trump world.
- Saudi Arabia is seeking a deal to end its three-year blockade of Qatar, hoping to remove one irritant in relations with Biden that are already likely to be tense, per the FT. Jared Kushner is traveling to both countries in an effort to seal such a deal, Axios’ Barak Ravid reports.
- Palestinian leaders have ended a boycott of coordination with Israel as part of a charm offensive to encourage Biden to roll back Trump’s policies, Barak reports.
- And Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has sent early signals he’ll attempt to put past friction with Biden aside and seek a pragmatic relationship.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.