Iran Nuclear Scientist’s Body Taken to Muslim Shrine

Tehran, Nov 29 (AFP/APP): The body of Iran’s assassinated top nuclear scientist has been taken to the first of several revered Shiite Muslim shrines ahead of his burial set for Monday, state media reported.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has accused arch-foe Israel of acting as a US “mercenary” and killing Mohsen Fakhrizadeh when assailants opened fire at him and his bodyguards near Tehran on Friday. As part of the funeral procession, Fakhrizadeh’s body arrived in the northeastern city of Mashhad late Saturday and was taken to Imam Reza’s shrine, for prayers and to circle the tomb, state news agency IRNA reported. His remains will next be taken to Fatima Masumeh’s shrine in Qom, south of Tehran, and then to Imam Khomeini’s shrine in the capital, according to the defence ministry.

The funeral itself will be held on Monday, in the presence of high-ranking military commanders and his family, the ministry said on its website, without specifying the location. The killing of Fakhrizadeh — whom Israel has dubbed the “father” of Iran’s nuclear programme — has once more heightened tensions between the Islamic republic and its foes.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for the perpetrators to be punished and urged that Fakhrizadeh’s “scientific and technical efforts” be continued. Iran’s parliament held a closed session Sunday, joined by the intelligence minister, Mahmoud Alavi, to “investigate the assassination,” ISNA news agency reported. Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said that any “decisions made will be made public soon”.

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