Iranian envoy to Russia Kazem Jalali has stated that the Islamic Republic knows who is responsible for the killing of nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
"In general, it is not big news that our enemies use terrorism against Iran. Moreover, we know who is behind everything, including some governments", the ambassador told the broadcaster Rossiya 24. "At the moment, all of the direct and indirect evidence we possess suggests that Israel is behind the attack, as it was before".
Fakhrizadeh was listed as one of five Iranians in Foreign Policy magazine's 500 most powerful people in the world in 2013. He was a professor at Iran’s prestigious Imam Hussein University, a senior Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran scientist and a brigadier general in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps specialising in missiles.
He was killed last week in a roadside attack on his vehicle about 175 km east of Tehran. According to reports, a remote-controlled machine gun shot him dead after Fakhrizadeh left his armoured car.
Following the incident, the Iranian parliament ratified the general outlines of a national plan to boost nuclear activity, stipulating the production of at least 120 kilograms of 20-percent enriched uranium annually.
Addressing the assassination, Iran sent a letter to the UN, saying that there were "serious indications of Israeli responsibility" for the attack, and calling on the Security Council and UN Secretary-General to condemn the killing. Multiple nations, including China, Turkey, Lebanon, the UAE, and Bahrain have condemned the attack. Israel, meanwhile, has refused to officially comment on the incident.
Fakhrizadeh's death was at least the seventh case of famous Iranian scientists being killed in the last 15 years, which Tehran has been blaming on western-backed Israeli activities.