Iran held a funeral service yesterday 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.”
An honor guard carried the casket containing the body of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who reportedly was gunned down in a military-style ambush on Friday that Iranian officials have blamed on Israel.
An arm of Iranian state television, citing an anonymous source, reported yesterday that a weapon recovered from the scene appeared to be Israeli.
Photo: Reuters / Iranian Ministry of Defense handout
Israel, long suspected of killing Iranian nuclear scientists over the last decade, has declined to comment on the attack.
Fakhrizadeh headed Iran’s so-called AMAD program, which Israel and the West have said 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.
Monday’s service took place at an outdoor portion of the Iranian Ministry of Defense in Tehran, with officials including Revolutionary Guard chief General Hossein Salami, the Guard’s Quds Force leader General Esmail Ghaani, civilian nuclear program chief Ali Akbar Sahei and Minister of Intelligence Mamoud Alavi.
They sat apart from each other and wore masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic as reciters melodically read portions of the Quran and religious texts.
Iranian Minister of Defense Minister General Amir Hatami gave a speech after kissing Fakhrizadeh’s casket and putting his forehead against it.
He said Fakhrizadeh’s killing would make Iranians “more united, more determined.”
“For the continuation of your path, we will continue with more speed and more power,” Hatami said in comments aired live by state television.
Hatami also criticized countries that had not condemned Fakhrizadeh’s killing, warning: “This will catch up with you someday.”
Mourners later buried Fakhrizadeh in the courtyard of Imamzadeh Saleh mosque in north Tehran.
Just after the burial, state TV’s English-language Press TV reported 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 Sunday by the semiofficial Fars news agency.
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