Iran promises a 'calculated, decisive' response to murder of nuclear scientist

Iran intends to give a “calculated and decisive” response to the murder of its top nuclear scientist. A top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently claimed that the country intends to respond soon.

"Undoubtedly, Iran will give a calculated and decisive answer to the criminals who took Martyr Mohsen Fakhrizadeh from the Iranian nation," Kamal Kharrazi, head of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, announced in a statement.

Fakhrizadeh was for long suspected to be at the helm a secret nuclear weapons programme for Iran by the West and Israel. 

On Friday, he was gunned down in his car after a group of assailants ambushed him. Top leaders in Iran have repeatedly blamed Israel for the killing. The country has blamed Israel for a series of murders of Israeli scientists since 2010.

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Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged 'punishing' those who were behing Mohsen Fakhrizadeh's killing. Fakhrizadeh was a top nuclear scientist in Iran and was assassinated on Friday. Khamenei added that Fkhrizadeh's work must be taken forward.

Khamenei called for "following up on this crime and certainly punishing the perpetrators and those responsible, and ... continuing the scientific and technical efforts of this martyr in all of the fields he was working in". His statement was published on his official website.

Khamenei called Mohsen Fakhrizadeh a "prestigious nuclear and defence scientist" and said he was "martyred by the hands of criminal and cruel mercenaries".

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"This unparallelled scientist gave his dear and valuable life to God because of his great and lasting scientific efforts, and the high prize of martyrdom is his divine reward," he added.

Fakhrizadeh was "martyred" after being seriously wounded when assailants targeted his car and engaged in a gunfight with his bodyguards outside the capital Tehran on Friday, according to Iran's defence ministry. The ministry said that the scientist, who headed its research and innovation organisation, died after medics failed to revive him.