The coffin of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh is seen during a funeral ceremony, in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 30, 2020. Photo: Iranian Defense Ministry / WANA (West Asia News Agency) / Handout via Reuters.

i24 News – Iran charged 14 people in connection with the killing of top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who died in an attack Tehran has attributed to Israel, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency on Monday.

According to Monday’s state news agency report, those indicted were charged with crimes that include “corruption on earth, contribution to intelligence and espionage for the Zionist regime, collusion aimed at disrupting Iran’s security and endangering the Islamic country’s security.”

Iran gave no details on the identities of those indicted, including their nationalities.

Ali Salahi, the Tehran Attorney-General, said that those indicted “created a conspiracy with the aim of disrupting security in the country” and that “the defendants participated in intelligence cooperation and espionage for the benefit of the Zionist regime.”

Fakhrizadeh was allegedly involved in efforts relating to developing nuclear weapons, dubbed the “mastermind of Iran’s nuclear program.” In 2018, former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu charged that he had led Iran’s efforts to build an atomic bomb, a claim Tehran has vehemently denied.

In November 2020, Fakhrizadeh, 59, was killed while en route with his wife to their country house outside Tehran from their vacation home on the Caspian Sea. He was driving his private vehicle, an unarmored black Nissan Teana sedan, when he was fatally shot and killed during an attack that Tehran unequivocally attributes to Israel.

In September 2021, roughly a year after Fakhrizadeh’s death, a New York Times report claimed that Israel’s Mossad national security agency assassinated Fakhrizadeh using a Belgian-made FN MAG machine gun which was attached to an advanced robotic apparatus and powered through artificial intelligence technology – in short, a computerized machine gun that required no on-site operatives.

Tehran repeatedly threatened revenge against the Jewish state for the assassination. While Jerusalem has never publicly confirmed or denied the allegations, Mossad’s former chief Yossi Cohen confirmed last year that the agency had long set its sights on Fakhrizadeh.