Iran says killing of scientist will 'not go unanswered'

Iranian defence minister Amir Hatami said today that the "assassination" of one of the country's leading nuclear scientists on 27 November would "not go unanswered".

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, head of the defence ministry's research and innovation department, was killed by a car bomb and gunmen near Tehran at the end of last week.

In a letter to the UN secretary general, Iran said it holds the US and Israel responsible for his death. Fakhrizadeh had been under US sanctions since 2008, while Israel has long alleged he led a covert nuclear weapons programme.

"Crimes, assassinations and foolish terrorist acts will not remain unanswered. We chase the criminals to the end," Hatami said at Fakhrizadeh's funeral ceremony today.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran would "continue the martyr's scientific and technological efforts in all the sectors where he was active."

Countries around the region have condemned the killing, including the UAE, although it has been at odds with Iran for decades and sees the Islamic Republic as one of the main threats to regional stability.

"Given the current situation in the region, the UAE calls upon all parties to exercise maximum degrees of self-restraint to avoid dragging the region into new levels of instability and threat to peace," the ministry of foreign affairs said.

The UK and EU also said they were concerned about the situation in the wider region and called for de-escalation.

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo recently vowed to maintain Washington's "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran as the Trump administration prepares to hand over to incoming US president Joe Biden.

Biden has said he plans to lift US sanctions against Tehran and rejoin the Iran 2015 nuclear deal, as long as Iran resumes compliance with all restrictions on its nuclear programme.

By Adal Mirza