TEHRAN — Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was the frontrunner of resistance against nuclear threats, Defense Minister Amir Hatami said on Tuesday on the 40th day after the assassination of the top nuclear scientist.

“He left behind invaluable legacies in this field,” Brigadier General Hatami said.

He also said Fakhrizadeh was active in the field of nuclear defense, adding that the United States and the occupying Israeli regime possess hundreds of nuclear bombs and are considered a threat for the security of the people across the world. 

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

His assassination is considered a serious blow to 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 has assassinated five other Iranian nuclear scientists. It has killed Masoud Alimohammadi, Majid Shahriari, Darioush Rezaeinejad, and Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan. Israel also attempted to assassinate Fereydon Abbassi, Iran’s former nuclear chief, 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.

In his Tuesday remarks, Hatami further lauded Fakhrizadeh for his role in the country’s scientific progress, but said the enemy failed to stop Iran’s progress through the assassination.

Meanwhile, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi has said the U.S. military forces in the region are currently on the defensive and they know how vulnerable they are.

“My assessment is that they (U.S.) are getting passive due to their weakness. They are concerned that we would carry out operations on the martyrdom anniversary of martyrs Soleimani and Abu Mahdi [al-Muhandis] as well as the martyrdom of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh,” asserted General Rahim Safavi, the former IRGC chief.

MH/PA