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The funeral in Tehran began with the melody of religious chant with allusions to historical martyrdom.
An image of Fakhrizadeh was displayed on a large screen alongside images of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Top General Qassem Soleimani, who were killed in a US drone strike earlier this year.
The researcher was also honored this weekend at ceremonies at Shiite shrines in various cities.
Fakhrizadeh died on Friday after being seriously injured in an attack on the car in which he was traveling outside Tehran. The state news agency Fars claims the attack was carried out with the help of a remote-controlled automatic weapon mounted on a van.
– The attack was studied. The enemy used a completely new, professional and specialized method and achieved its goal, says Ali Shamkhani, head of Iran’s highest national security council, pointing to both the Iranian opposition group in exile Mujahedin of the People and the Israeli Mossad as guilty of the attack.
Take your time
Shortly after the assassination, President Hassan Rohani accused arch-enemy Israel of carrying out the assassination, with the support of the United States. He has said that Iran “long enough” will demand revenge, but will not allow itself to be enticed into a “trap”.
In a televised speech at the ceremony Monday, Defense Minister Amir Hatami reiterated the threat of retaliation and vowed to double the budget for work led by Fakhrizadeh.
Israel has singled out the nuclear bomber as the mastermind behind the attempts to build nuclear bombs that Iran has been accused of. Tehran, however, claims that it has no military intentions with its nuclear program.
Few comments
Following the assassination, the Iranian parliament demands that international inspections of the country’s nuclear energy program stop, while voices are also raised that the international disarmament and non-proliferation agreement NPT should be abandoned now.
Few Israeli officials have commented on Fakhrizadeh’s assassination. But Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen said in an interview Monday that he did not know who was behind the attack.
The New York Times, however, quotes a high-ranking Israeli source suggesting that the country has been involved. “Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, promoted by Fakhrizadeh, posed such a threat that the world should thank Israel,” the source said.
Iran has previously accused Israel of killing four nuclear scientists between 2010 and 2012.
