publish time

30/11/2020

author name Arab Times

publish time

30/11/2020

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 30, (Agencies): Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry expressed its condemnation of the Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh’s recent assassination in Tehran. Kuwait “underlines its unwavering stance in rejection of violent acts, whatever the motive, and rejects anything that may increase tensions and affect stability in the region,” the ministry said in a statement on Monday.

In this photo released by the official website of the Iranian Defense Ministry, military personnel carry the flag draped coffin of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a scientist who was killed on Friday, in a funeral ceremony in Tehran, Iran on Nov 30, 2020. Iran held the funeral Monday for the slain scientist who founded its military nuclear program two decades ago, with the Islamic Republic’s defense minister vowing to continue the man’s work ‘with more speed and more power’. (AP)

The ministry went on to extend its condolences and commiserations to Iran over the loss. A top Iranian security official on Monday accused Israel of using “electronic devices” to remotely kill the scientist who founded the Islamic Republic’s military nuclear program 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 defense minister 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, has repeatedly declined to comment on the attack. Fakhrizadeh headed Iran’s socalled AMAD program, 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 program” 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 program and research into other technologies. Iran long has maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Shamkhani’s remarks drastically change the story of Fakhrizadeh’s killing, which took place Friday.

Authorities initially said a truck exploded and then gunmen opened fire on the scientist, killing him and a bodyguard. State TV even interviewed a man the night of the attack who described seeing gunmen open fire. 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.”