A commentary published on Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's website says he had warned Deputy Defense Minister Mohsen Fakhrizadeh about ignoring security protocols.

Fakhrizadeh, who is characterized by Iranian media as a nuclear scientist was killed on November 27 near Tehran in what looked like an ambush on his motorcade.

A commentary by Abdolhossein Khosrowpanah, a confidante of Khamenei and the former chairman of the Iranian Society of Philosophy, says Khamenei had received reports that indicated Fakhrizadeh neglected the security advice given to him by the intelligence agencies.

The cleric wrote that Fakhrizadeh maintained direct links to Khamenei and often met him in private.

Earlier, the secretary of Iran's Supreme Council of National Security Ali Shamkhani had said that "The enemies wanted to kill Fakhrizadeh for 20 years and the Iranian intelligence agencies were aware of this. Shamkhani went as far as saying that the agencies had even predicted the likely location of the attack on Fakhrizadeh, adding that "As this was a frequently recurrent threat, it was not dealt with due seriousness and this led to the killers' success."

While the statement by Shamkhani apparently blames the security organizations for their lack of "due seriousness," the account by Khosrowpanah puts the blame on Fakhrizadeh himself who "ignored' the warnings and protocols.

Referring to Fakhrizadeh's frequent meetings with Khamenei, Khosrowpanah said that the Iranian leader always reminded Fakhrizadeh to take his security seriously. He said Khamenei was told that Fakhrizadeh "went to different places ignoring security warnings."

"Going to various places" is the jargon among Iranian clerics to describe suspicious association and secret meetings held usually for the purpose of recreation and pleasure. Khosrowpanah did not elaborate on what he meant precisely by using this expression. 

According to the commentary on Khamenei's website, "The enemies were after killing Fakhrizadeh and they must have been hatching plots in this regards for more than ten years," and added, "his assassination was based on strong body of research and was carried out based on a delicate and detailed plan by infiltrators who monitored his moves and associates."

The commentary vaguely described the perpetrators as "Zionists and hypocrites" which means in the Islamic Republic's official jargon "Israel and the Mojahedin-e Khalq organization." Yet, the commentary did not spell out the names for whatever reason.

"The enemy attached high importance to Fakhrizadeh and had hatched many plots to assassinate him but did not succeed. But this time, they did it using a special terrorist group," the commentary said without explaining what made the group special.

During the days after the assassination, and particularly after the remarks by Shamkhani and government spokesman Ali Rabiei, a veteran intelligence operative who also said that some of the intelligence organizations knew about the attack beforehand, there has been rising suspicion that the rivalry between Iran's 16 intelligence organizations, in particular the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC Intelligence Organization, might have left Fakhrizadeh vulnerable.

This also justifies Khosrowpanah's warning to various political factions "not to allow the enemies to use factional differences to sow discord among rulers and political parties," and stressed that "such divisions among political factions will weaken the security system as a whole." 

Rouhani's and IRGC's intelligence outfits have been holding opposing views on security and intelligence matters. For instance, the IRGC Intelligence arrested dozens of environmentalists on charges of espionage, but the Intelligence Ministry maintains that they are not spies. On the other hand, the Intelligence Ministry jailed tens of innocent individuals on the charges of killing nuclear scientists, but the IRGC Intelligence proved they were innocent and helped the release of the prisoners. 

In another development, the Rouhani administration released pictures showing Rouhani decorating Fakhrizadeh with a medal of honor to prove that he was close to Rouhani, on the same day, the state TV broadcast Fakhrizadeh's voice lashing out at Rouhani and Zarif for compromising with the West and making Iranians' life hard.

However, there were indications on the scene of the attack that indicated Fakhrizadeh was not a security-savvy person regardless of his links to the IRGC and the higher echelons of power in Iran. He was wearing slippers, which indicated his laid-back attitude, and was driving himself which could limit his manoeuvring ability in case of an attack.