Iran vows to double budget of nuclear organisation once headed by slain scientist
Iran’s defence minister vowed Monday to double spending on the nuclear research organisation once headed by Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, during a fiery speech at the funeral for the assassinated scientist described as Iran’s nuclear weapons guru.
Amir Hatami also promised to find and punish those responsible for Fakhrizadeh’s killing, saying “we chase criminals until the end.”
The minister said the government would double the budget of the Defence Research and Innovation Organisation, the ministry department focused on "nuclear defence" once headed by Fakhrizadeh.
Western intelligence believe that Fakhrizadeh led research into the feasibility of building an atomic bomb until they assessed the programme to have ended in 2003. Iran insists its nuclear research is for peaceful purposes.
The official explanation for the Friday killing of Fakhrizadeh continued to change on Monday, with the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, saying the operation “was very complex, using electronic equipment and no one was present at the scene."
This narrative was reflected in a Fars News report, which said “no human assets were present at the scene of the assassination and the shooting was carried out only with automated weapons.”
This latest version of the attack helped authorities explain an embarrassing lack of arrests in a high-profile killing that has raised the prospect of conflict in the region during the final months of the Trump presidency.
Earlier reports said Fakhrizadeh was killed during a roadside ambush in which a vehicle exploded and gunmen opened fire on his vehicle and his bodyguards.
Eyewitnesses testified to the presence of assassins to state television on Friday, while Fars News initially reported that “three or four terrorists” were killed in a firefight.
Javad Mogouei, a documentary-maker close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said on Sunday as many as 12 assassins were involved in the attack. As well as an unmanned Nissan equipped with an automatic machine gun, he said the hit squad included four passengers in one car, four motorcyclists and two snipers.
“None of the terrorists are arrested or killed,” he said in a post on his Instagram page.
Iran continues to blame Israel for the attack, but on Monday Mr Shamkhani said exiled opposition group The People's Mujahedeen of Iran were "certainly" involved, alongside "the Zionist regime and the Mossad" – Israel’s spy agency.
An unnamed source also told Iran's English-language Press TV that the weapon used in the killing was made in Israel.
The assassination will likely complicate efforts by US President-elect Joe Biden to rejoin the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran that President Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned, with Iran’s parliament on Monday demanding an end to international inspections of nuclear sites in the country.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday implicated the United States in the attack, saying Israel acted as a "mercenary" for it in carrying out the attack.
President Rouhani, who faces strong domestic demands for a forceful response, has said Iran will retaliate in “due time” to avoid rushing into a “trap”.
The United Arab Emirates, which recently established diplomatic ties with Israel and has strained relations with Iran, warned in a statement Monday that the killing "could further fuel conflict in the region," calling it a “heinous assassination”.
According to an anonymous source quoted by the Middle East Eye website, the Emirati statement came after Tehran contacted Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed directly to tell him the UAE would be targeted in the event of a US attack on Iran.
"We will hold you responsible for the assassination of Fakhrizadeh,” Iran is alleged to have warned the UAE. Iran
