Tehran: Iranian authorities said on Monday that they firmly believe that Israel and an exiled opposition group were behind the assassination of their top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, but that they used a remote-control weapon to kill him on Friday.
Security chief Ali Shamkhani, while speaking at the funeral of Fakhrizadeh said the attackers had “used electronic equipment” when Fakhrizadeh’s car was fired upon east of the capital Tehran, BBC reported.
Iranian versions of what happened have changed significantly but it appears that Fakhrizadeh was mortally wounded when his car was sprayed with bullets in the town of Absard, to the east of Tehran.
During the attack a bomb in a Nissan pickup truck is also reported to have exploded.
Pictures on social media show a road strewn with wreckage and blood, and a bullet-riddled vehicle.
First the defence ministry had reported a gunfight between Fakhrizadeh’s bodyguards and several gunmen.
Then Iranian media said the scientist had in fact been killed by a “remote-controlled machine gun” or weapons “controlled by satellite”.
And on Monday, Rear Admiral Shamkhani, who heads the Supreme National Security Council, confirmed it had been a remote attack, using “special methods” which he did not specify.
Israel has so far not made any kind of comment on the Iranian allegations that they were responsible for Fakhrizadeh’s assassination.
