Iran: Killing won't go 'unanswered' - DefMin Hatami as slain nuclear scientist laid to rest in Tehran

Iranian Defence Minister Amir Hatami said that the killing of top nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh won't go 'unanswered,' while speaking at the scientist's funeral in Tehran, on Monday.

Officials and relatives of Fakhrizadeh attended his socially distanced funeral, which was closed to the public and held at the Defence Ministry, after which his coffin was laid to rest in Tehran's Imamzadeh Saleh mosque.

Speaking to mourners, Hatami said, "No crime, no assassination, no stupid act will go unanswered by the Iranian nation."

Criticising the US and Israel, he added, "The criminal Americans have thousands of nuclear weapons; the criminal Zionist regime has hundreds of nuclear weapons. What are these for? Is it for use as a decoration in your home?"

The Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, said that Iran's intelligence services had "accurately predicted the probability of the incident against him and the probable location" ahead of time, but that "unfortunately, the required seriousness was not applied, and this time they succeeded."

Iran blames Israel for playing a role in the attack, while Israel has declined to comment on the allegations, maintaining its policy of neither confirming or denying its involvement, as it has done in connection with the four other alleged assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists since 2010.