Iran's Rouhani Accuses 'Mercenary' Israel of Scientist Assassination

Saturday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused arch-foe Israel of acting as a mercenary for the US, accusing the Jewish state of murdering one of Tehran's leading nuclear scientists the day before.

"Once again, the wicked hands of the global arrogance, with the usurper Zionist regime as the mercenary, were stained with the blood of a son of this nation," Rouhani said in a statement on his official website, referring to the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, reports AFP.

Iran generally uses the term "global arrogance" to refer to the United States.

The Iranian Defence Ministry said that Fakhrizadeh was "seriously wounded" when assailants attacked his car before engaging in a gunfight with his bodyguards in an assault outside Tehran on Friday.

It added that Fakhrizadeh, who headed the research and innovation organisation of the ministry, was later "martyred" after he was not revived by medics.

Rouhani vowed that his death "does not disrupt" Iran's scientific progress and said the killing was due to the "weakness and inability" of Tehran's enemies to impede its growth.

He offered condolences to "the scientific community and the revolutionary people of Iran."

On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said there were "serious indications of an Israeli role" in the murder.

In 2008, the United States imposed sanctions on Fakhrizadeh for "activities and transactions that contributed to the development of Iran's nuclear programme" and was once described by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the father of Iran's nuclear weapons program.

While traveling near Absard city in eastern Damavand county of Tehran province, Fakhrizadeh was targeted.

The New York Times said that without providing any further information, an American official and two other intelligence officials confirmed Israel was behind the attack.

The assassination comes less than two months before the inauguration of US President-elect Joe Biden.

Biden has promised a return to diplomacy with Iran after four hawkish years under Donald Trump, who withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and began reimposing crippling sanctions.