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| Iran's top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh assassinated near Tehran | Iran's top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh assassinated near Tehran |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| The scene of the attack in Damavand, near Tehran | |
| Iran's most senior nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh has been assassinated near the capital Tehran, the country's defence ministry has confirmed. | Iran's most senior nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh has been assassinated near the capital Tehran, the country's defence ministry has confirmed. |
| Fakhrizadeh died in hospital after an attack in Absard, in Damavand county. | |
| Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, has condemned the killing "as an act of state terror". | |
| Western intelligence agencies view Fakhrizadeh as being behind Iran's secret nuclear weapons programme. | |
| He was reportedly described as the "father of the Iranian bomb" by diplomats. | |
| News of the killing comes amid fresh concern about the increased amount of enriched uranium that Iran is producing. Enriched uranium is a vital component for both civil nuclear power generation and military nuclear weapons. | News of the killing comes amid fresh concern about the increased amount of enriched uranium that Iran is producing. Enriched uranium is a vital component for both civil nuclear power generation and military nuclear weapons. |
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| Iran insists its nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes. | Iran insists its nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes. |
| Between 2010 and 2012, four Iranian nuclear scientists were assassinated and Iran has accused Israel of complicity in the killings. | Between 2010 and 2012, four Iranian nuclear scientists were assassinated and Iran has accused Israel of complicity in the killings. |
| Fakhrizadeh's name was specifically mentioned in Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's presentation about Iran's nuclear programme in May 2018. | Fakhrizadeh's name was specifically mentioned in Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's presentation about Iran's nuclear programme in May 2018. |
| What happened? | |
| In a statement on Friday, Iran's defence ministry said: "Armed terrorists targeted a vehicle carrying Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, head of the ministry's research and innovation organisation. | |
| "After a clash between the terrorists and his bodyguards, Mr Fakhrizadeh was severely injured and rushed to hospital. | |
| "Unfortunately, the medical team's efforts to save him were unsuccessful and minutes ago he passed away." | |
| Iranian media reports said the attackers opened fire on the scientist in his car. | |
| Fakrizadeh was wounded in the attack and died later in hospital, Iran said | |
| Fars news agency earlier reported there was a car explosion in Absard town, with witnesses reporting that "three to four individuals, who are said to have been terrorists, were killed". | |
| What has the reaction been? | |
| "Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today," Iran's foreign minister said in a tweet. | |
| "This cowardice - with serious indications of Israeli role - shows desperate warmongering of perpetrators." | |
| Mr Zarif called on the international community to "condemn this act of state terror". | |
| The commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said that Iran will revenge the killing of the scientist. | |
| Who was Mohsen Fakhrizadeh? | |
| Fakhrizadeh is the most renowned Iranian nuclear scientist and a senior officer of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. | |
| He has long been spoken about by Western security sources as extremely powerful and instrumental in Iran's weapons programme. | |
| According to secret documents obtained by Israel in 2018, he led the programme that created Iran's nuclear weapons. | |
| "Remember that name," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said as he identified Fakhrizedeh as the head scientist in the programme. | |
| In 2015, the New York Times compared him to J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who directed the Manhattan Project that during World War Two produced the first atomic weapons. | |
| There has been no comment from Israel on the news of the assassination. | |
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