Protesters hold the pictures of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran’s top nuclear scientist, during a demonstration against his killing, in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 28, 2020. Photo: Majid Asgaripour / WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters.

i24 News – Iran suspects that an armed forces serviceman was involved in the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran’s nuclear chief, in November, a senior official said Tuesday.

“The person who carried out the first preparations for the assassination was a member of the armed forces,” Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi told state media on Monday, as cited by AFP.

He added that the intelligence ministry was unable “to keep watch over the armed forces.”

On November 27, Fakhrizadeh, a high-ranking Iranian official seen by Israel as the key architect of Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, was killed outside the Iranian capital.

His vehicle, which was accompanied by a security detail, came under heavy gunfire, with early reports painting a conflicting picture of the incident.

Later on, Iran claimed that the attack was high-tech and sophisticated, relying on a remote-controlled gun operated via satellite and imbued with “artificial intelligence” to shower Fakhrizadeh’s car with bullets.

Tehran blamed the attack on Israel, which did not respond to the allegation.

In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named Fakhrizadeh as the head of a secret nuclear arms program, whose existence Iran has repeatedly denied.