Top Iranian nuclear scientist 'Mohsen Fakhrizadeh' assassinated

Senior Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi has been assassinated in Damavand, east of Tehran.

As per Iranian media reports, the scientist – a high-profile figure in the country’s nuclear energy program – was killed on Friday in the Absard region of Davamand.

He along with his body guard were reportedly attacked by a “suicide” attacker at the entrance of Absard town.

Iran’s state TV also confirmed the assassination.

Meanwhile, Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, has denied the reports, saying all nuclear scientists are safe.

A Professor of physics at the Imam Hussein University, he was a senior scientist at the Iranian Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the assassination.

Fakhrizadeh is said to have been at the helm of the so-called Project Amad – Iran's efforts to obtain nuclear weapons.

As per the UN nuclear watchdog, the project was stopped in 2003, but Israeli officials have repeatedly warned that Iran is yet to give up on the idea of obtaining nukes.

In 2013, he reportedly traveled to North Korea under a false identity to witness a test missile launch.

In April 2018, Israel's Priem Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed Fakhrizadeh's face to the world for the first time in a televised presentation based on troves of documents exfiltrated by the Mossad from a Tehran warehouse.