  The study of the Fe abundance in the intra cluster medium (ICM) provides
strong constraints on the integrated star formation history and supernova rate
of the cluster galaxies, as well as on the ICM enrichment mechanisms. In this
Letter, using chemical evolution models for galaxies of different morphological
types, we study the evolution of the Fe content of clusters of galaxies. We
assume that the ICM Fe enrichment occurs by means of galactic winds arising
from elliptical galaxies and from gas stripped from the progenitors of S0
galaxies via external mechanisms, due to the interaction of the inter stellar
medium with the ICM. The Fe-rich gas ejected by ellipticals accounts for the
X_Fe,ICM values observed at z > 0.5, whereas the gas stripped from the
progenitors of the S0 galaxies accounts for the increase of X_Fe,ICM observed
at z<0.5. We tested two different scenarios for Type Ia supernova (SN)
progenitors and we model the Type Ia SN rate observed in clusters, finding a
good agreement between our predictions and the available observations.
