Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh is gone. According to the heads of the Islamic Republic, the Zionists assassinated him, and this time around, the Zionists aren't exactly denying it. Their revenge, they promise, will be "calculated and decisive" and exacted at the appropriate time.
At this point, it remains unclear exactly when and where this will be, and what exactly the appropriate form of revenge looks like. The regime in Tehran has opted for "strategic patience" in its response to the "despicable murder," the Iranian reports of which seem to change every few hours. "Strategic patience," a term coined by the ayatollah's copywriters in Tehran, is aimed at allowing the regime to maintain a sense of dignity. The use of the word "strategic" sends the message to hardliners that this is just a waiting period that will come to an end, and that the ayatollahs are carefully planning their next move. To those on the left who seek regime change, the word sends the message that, just because the regime hasn't punished the killers who assassinated Fakhrizadeh, or Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, doesn't mean they will get away with acts against the regime.
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While I believe the ayatollahs genuinely want to avoid dragging the region into war, they will need to exact some kind of revenge to save face.
We've seen similar language used in the past, for example during the nuclear talks, when pressure on the regime from the right and expectations of the country opening up to the West from the Left birthed the term "heroic flexibility." This term was used every time the republic was forced to present the people with more concessions to the West.
And how have the people responded? Online and in the streets, the initial reaction has been one of rage and calls for revenge, some sadness over Iran's third significant loss following the US killing of Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, alongside joyous declarations celebrating that Fakhrizadeh was now a martyr and revenge would be forthcoming.
Out in the streets, there were cries of "No compromise, no surrender, war with America!" and calls to kick out UN nuclear watchdog inspectors. While the regime would prefer to avoid the former, the latter is in fact resonating with many senior regime officials.
On the other hand, opponents of the regime have tweeted out remarks along the lines of "Nice job. Keep it up." Quite a few of them have asserted Fakhrizadeh and Soleimani are not Iran's heroes, but rather those young people who sacrificed their lives in protests against the regime.
It's hard to predict what the coming days will bring. We can try to compare this latest assassination to that of Soleimani at the beginning of the year. There was definitely more anger online and in the streets at the time. That's to be expected since Soleimani was a prominent symbol of the regime throughout his lifetime, while Fakhrizadeh has been dubbed Iran's "mystery man."
Strategic patience could in fact serve to maintain anger outwardly. The response to Soleimani's killing was just a little too rushed. Had they taken their time to plan things a little more carefully, they might have taken down a US military jet instead of a plane full of innocent and mostly Iranian passengers.
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