TEHRAN – The enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran cannot prevent scientific and technological developments by assassinating scholars and scientific figures, a Russian scholar said on Tuesday.

In an interview with IRNA on Tuesday, Vadim Khomenkov condemned the terrorist attack that killed Iran’s top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, saying the assassination was a sign of the weakness of Iran’s enemies.

Khomenkov, the deputy director of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the Republic of Tatarstan, said Iran has taken strong steps in the field of science and technology in recent decades and it is quite clear that the enemies of this country, especially the U.S. and Israel, are worried about its progress.

He added that the assassination of Fakhrizadeh showed that the enemies of Iran do any action to stop Iran from making advances in scientific fields.

On Friday at 14:30, the convoy of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was targeted on a highway in the small city of Absard in Damavand County, about 40 kilometers northeast of the capital Tehran. The scientist lost his life during the attack while his bodyguards were severely injured. 

Iranian officials were quick to point the finger at Israel, which has carried out assassination operations against Iranian nuclear scientists over the past decade. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a tweet on Friday that the attack was carried out with “serious indications of Israeli role”.

Three days after he was assassinated on a major road outside Tehran, Fakhrizadeh was laid to rest on Monday. His assassination could further hamper diplomatic efforts to salvage the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which was abandoned by U.S. President Donald Trump in May 2018.

Over the past years Israel assassinated five other Iranian nuclear scientists. It killed Masoud Alimohammadi, Majid Shahriari, Darioush Rezaeinejad, and Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan. Israel also attempted to assassinate Fereydon Abbassi, Iran’s head of the Atomic Agency, but it failed.

Iran’s ambassador and permanent representative to the Vienna-based international organizations has urged the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to clarify its position on the assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist.

“The IAEA is first expected to pronounce clearly its position in relation with the terrorist act and strongly condemn it in clear terms,” Kazem Gharibabadi tweeted on Monday night. 

“The Agency has a dire responsibility vis-a-vis a Member who is receiving the highest level of inspections of the Agency and having the most transparent nuclear program through implementing various commitments, but its scientists are assassinated or under threat of assassination, and its nuclear facilities are sabotaged or under threat of sabotage,” Gharibabadi added.

MH/PA