Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran's top nuclear scientist, assassinated

Tehran, Nov 27: Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, prominent Iranian nuclear scientist has been assassinated near the capital Tehran.

Fakhrizadeh, long suspected by the West of masterminding a secret atomic weapons programme, died of injuries in hospital after armed assassins fired on his car, Iranian media reported.

Iran''s foreign minister is alleging the killing of a scientist linked to the country''s disbanded military nuclear program has "serious indications" of an Israeli role.

Mohammad Javad Zarif made the statement Friday on Twitter. Israel has declined to comment, though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself has named the scientist slain outside of Tehran.

"Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today. This cowardice-with serious indications of Israeli role-shows desperate warmongering of perpetrators," Zarif wrote.

The killing risked further raising tensions across the Mideast, as just a year ago Iran and the U.S. stood on the brink of war.

It comes just as President-elect Joe Biden stands poised to be inaugurated in January and likely complicates his efforts to return America to the Iran nuclear deal.