Iran mulls response as it prepares to bury top nuclear scientist

IRAN was weighing its response on Sunday to the killing of its top nuclear scientist, which it blames on arch-foe Israel, as his body was taken to Shiite shrines ahead of being buried.

Two days after Mohsen Fakhrizadeh died following a firefight between his guards and unidentified gunmen outside Tehran, parliament called in a statement for international inspectors to be barred from nuclear facilities.

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council usually handles decisions related to the country’s nuclear programme.

President Hassan Rouhani has stressed the country will seek its revenge in “due time” and not be rushed into a “trap”.

Israel says Fakhrizadeh was the head of an Iranian military nuclear programme, the existence of which the Islamic republic has consistently denied.

His body arrived in the northeastern holy city of Mashhad late Saturday and was taken to the shrine of Imam Reza for prayers and a ceremonial circling of the tomb, state news agency IRNA reported.

The they were taken Sunday to Fatima Masumeh’s shrine in Qom, south of Tehran, and later to that of the Islamic republic’s founder Imam Khomeini, according to Iranian media.

Fakhrizadeh’s funeral will be held on Monday in the presence of senior military commanders and his family, the defence ministry said on its website, without specifying where.

Israel has declined to comment on Fakhrizadeh’s killing, less than two months before US President-elect Joe Biden is set to take office following four years of hawkish foreign policy under President Donald Trump.