Iran official alleges Israel ‘remotely killed’ scientist

A top Iranian security official on Monday accused Israel of using “electronic devices” to remotely kill a scientist who founded the Islamic Republic’s military nuclear programme in the 2000s.

Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the country’s Supreme National Security Council, made the comment at the funeral for Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, where Iran’s defence minister General Amir Hatami separately vowed to continue the man’s work “with more speed and more power”.

Israel, long suspected of killing Iranian nuclear scientists over the last decade, repeatedly has declined to comment on the attack.

Fakhrizadeh headed Iran’s so-called AMAD programme, which Israel and the West have alleged was a military operation looking at the feasibility of building a nuclear weapon.

The International Atomic Energy Agency says that “structured programme” ended in 2003. US intelligence agencies concurred with that assessment in a 2007 report.

Israel insists Iran still maintains the ambition of developing nuclear weapons, pointing to Tehran’s ballistic missile programme and research into other technologies. Iran long has maintained its nuclear programme is peaceful.

Shamkhani’s remarks drastically change the story of Fakhrizadeh’s killing on Friday. Authorities initially said a truck exploded and then gunmen opened fire on the scientist, killing him.

State TV’s English-language broadcaster Press TV reported earlier Monday that a weapon recovered from the scene of the attack bore “the logo and specifications of the Israeli military industry.”

State TV’s Arabic-language channel, Al-Alam, claimed the weapons used were “controlled by satellite,” a claim also made on Sunday by the semi-official Fars news agency.

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