Funeral in Iran for murdered nuclear scientist

People pray over the flag draped coffin of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, an Iranian scientist. Photo / AP

Iran has begun a funeral for a recently killed scientist who founded the Islamic Republic's military nuclear programme in the early 2000s.

State TV broadcast the ceremony Monday showing the casket of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. An honour guard carried it to a podium where reciters read the Quran and other religious verses in an outdoor area of the Defense Ministry in Iran's capital, Tehran.

Officials, including Defense Minister Gen. Amir Hatami, attended the ceremony, sitting apart from each other and wearing masks due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This photo released by the semi-official Fars News Agency shows the scene where Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed in Absard, a small city just east of the capital, Tehran, Iran. Photo / AP

Fakhrizadeh was killed in a military-style ambush Friday on the outskirts of Tehran, which reportedly saw a truck bomb explode and gunmen open fire on the scientist.

Iran has blamed Israel for the attack.

Israel, long suspected of killing Iranian nuclear scientists over the last decade, has declined to comment on the killing.

Caretakers from the Imam Reza holy shrine, carry the flag draped coffin of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Photo / AP

People pray over the flag draped coffin of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Photo / AP

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Photo / AP