The Iranian authorities paid tribute with great pomp, Saturday, November 29, to the Iranian atomist scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, assassinated Friday near Tehran.
His body was the subject of a special religious service at a leading Shia shrine, before his burial announced for Monday.
The body arrived in the holy city of Mashhad (northeastern Iran) on the night of Saturday to Sunday where it was taken to the mausoleum of Imam-Réza, according to images on state television.
A prayer was said and the body of the scientist was carried in procession around the tomb of this holy figure of Shiism, a tribute that the Islamic Republic reserves for some of its most eminent "martyrs".
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, 59, was killed in a car bomb attack followed by a shooting against his car, the Iranian Defense Ministry announced on Friday, adding that the victim was the head of its research and innovation department, responsible in particular of "anti-atomic defense".
Israel singled out
As of Friday, the Iranian authorities accused Israel of being behind the assassination.
President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday accused the Hebrew state of wanting to sow "chaos" and promised that the scientist's death would be avenged "in due course".
Man in the shadows, Moshen Fakhrizadeh was accused in April 2018 by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of being the head of an Iranian nuclear program for military purposes which Iran has always denied.
According to the Iranian Defense Ministry, the scholar's body must be transferred to Qom (central Iran) to be honored there in another Shiite holy place, before his burial scheduled for Monday after a ceremony at the Imam's mausoleum -Khomeiny in Tehran.
Moshen Fakhrizadeh's assassination took place less than two months before Democrat Joe Biden was inaugurated as President of the United States.
He says he wants to put an end to the unilateralism of outgoing President Donald Trump and reintegrate the United States into the international Iranian nuclear agreement of 2015.
Donald Trump unilaterally pulled his country out of this pact in 2018 in the name of a policy of "maximum pressure" against Tehran, with sanctions that plunged the Iranian economy into a violent recession and pushed Iran to stop applying most of the key commitments made in Vienna to ensure that its controversial nuclear program has no military intent.
With AFP
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