> He was assassinated for his role in leading the Iranian nuclear weapons program, not for his scientific achievements.

Recall that America withdrew from the anti-nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that Iran's Ayatollah has declared a religious prohibition against nuclear weapons and that while Israel does have nuclear weapons, Iran is instead pursuing a nuclear power program for civilian energy.

> According to Gareth Porter writing in Foreign Policy, Iran's aversion to nuclear and chemical weapons is sincere because of the "historical episode during its eight-year war with Iraq", and Iran never sought revenge for Iraqi chemical attacks against Iran, which killed 20,000 Iranians and severely injured 100,000 more.[2] According to Khalaji, the fatwa is also considered to be consistent with Islamic tradition.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Khamenei%27s_fatwa_against...