Iranian Minister of Intelligence Sayyid Mahmoud Alavi said that a member of the Iranian armed forces was involved in the murder of a nuclear physicist, Deputy Defense Minister Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Report informs, referring to IRIB.
The intelligence knew about the impending attempt on the physicist's life, as well as where it would happen. However, the time wasn't known, and the ministry notified the relevant authorities five days before the murder.
"The person who was engaged in the first preparatory actions for the assassination attempt was a member of the armed forces," Alavi said, noting that his department couldn't conduct intelligence activities in the country's armed forces.
The nuclear physicist was killed in an assassination attempt near Tehran last November. Fakhrizadeh was seriously injured and died in the hospital. The murdered scientist was in charge of research and innovation under the Iranian Ministry of Defense.
Fakhrizadeh was shot from a distance of 150 meters from a remote-controlled weapon installed in the car. In addition to the scientist and his bodyguards, there was no one else at the assassination scene.