TEHRAN — The head of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has vowed to exact vengeance on the Zionist regime and its minions for the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a prominent Iranian scientist.

“The great nation of Iran will inflict its harsh vengeance on them at the right time,” Major General Hossein Salami said on Friday, Fars reported.

He made the remarks during a visit to the late scientist’s house.

“The crime of the savage terrorists created a great honor for the martyr Dr. Fakhrizadeh, and it presented this scientist as General Haj Qassem Soleimani, who had taken revenge on the Americans many times during his lifetime,” he noted.

The general added that the children of the nation, who are assassinated by the Great Satan – the United States – and the Zionist regime, have brought honor for the Islamic Iran.

Fakhrizadeh, a senior nuclear and defense scientist, was assassinated in a small city east of Tehran on November 27.

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.

Iran has blamed Israel, which has carried out assassination operations against Iranian nuclear scientists over the past decade. Immediately after the assassination, Foreign Minister Zarif said in a tweet that the attack was carried out with “serious indications of Israeli role”.

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.

President Hassan Rouhani has said Iran is entitled to take revenge for the assassination.

“Iran’s government is entitled to take retaliation from the elements behind the assassination of the martyr,” Rouhani said on December 3.

He said the terrorist attack showed that Iran’s enemies are desperate in the face of Iranian scientists’ scientific progress.

“For us, it is completely clear who has committed this act of terror and what method was adopted to perpetrate this atrocity,” he said.

The deputy IRGC chief has said the machine gun that targeted Fakhrizadeh was controlled online and artificial intelligence technology was used in the assassination.

“The satellite machine gun was controlled online and there were no terrorists at the scene,” Brigadier General Ali Fadavi said while addressing a commemoration ceremony for the assassinated scientist on Sunday.

“13 bullets were fired from the machine gun and it was zoomed in on Martyr Fakhrizadeh’s face with an advanced camera, and it was equipped with artificial intelligence technology,” Fadavi explained.

Fadavi said Fakhrizadeh was accompanied by 11 guards and his wife. While 4 or 5 bullets hit Fakhrizadeh, his wife was not shot at all.

The head of Martyr Fakhrizadeh’s guards was hit with four bullets because he had thrown himself on Fakhrizadeh, and other guards were not targeted by the machine gun, he added.

MH/PA