Iran makes arrests in connection with nuclear scientist's assassination

Iran makes arrests in connection with nuclear scientist's assassination
Several suspects in the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh have been arrested, an official said.
1 min read
09 December, 2020
Iranian officials have claimed Fakhrizadeh was shot dead with a remote-controlled gun [Getty]
Iran has arrested several people in connection with the assassination last month of the Islamic Republic's top nuclear scientist, an official told state TV.

Hossein Amirabdollahian, a top aide to the head of the Iranian parliament, told Al Alam TV that authorities had arrested a number of people identified as suspects in the attack.

Amirabdollahian did not give any further information about the arrests.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the head of Iran's now-disbanded nuclear arms programme, was shot dead in the outskirts of the capital Tehran on 27 November.

Tehran has blamed the assassination on arch-enemy Israel, which opposes the Islamic Republic obtaining nuclear capabilities and has previously been accused of killing Iranian nuclear scientists.

A satellite-controlled machine gun with "artificial intelligence" was used in the assassination, an Iranian Republican Guards Corps commander claimed last week.

Since the attack, Tehran has hardened its stance on the nuclear issue.

The Guardian Council last week approved a law forwarded by hard-liners furthed distancing Iran from commitments made under a 2015 nuclear deal.

The law obliges the Islamic Republic to block United Nations inspections of nuclear sites and increase uranium enrichment to pre-2015 levels.

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