Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei posthumously awarded a prestigious military decoration to Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a nuclear physicist assassinated in late November near Tehran, Iranian state television reported on Sunday.
The First Class Medal of the Order of Nasr (“Victory” in Persian), its bar and a certificate signed by Ayatollah Khamenei were presented to the widow of the atomist scientist by Major General Mohammad Baqéri, chief of Iranian armed forces staff, according to television footage.
“It is a decoration honoring our loved ones who defended the Islamic Revolution as well as the territorial integrity and independence of Iran,” General Baqéri said, adding that it was the highest honor. rewarding actions of logistical and material support to troops.
Presented after his death as Deputy Minister of Defense and Head of the Defense Research and Innovation Organization (Sépand), having notably contributed to the country’s “atomic defense”, Fakhrizadeh was killed on November 27 near Tehran in an attack on his convoy.
The Islamic Republic accused Israel of having ordered this attack, perpetrated according to Tehran using, among other things, a machine gun commanded by satellite. Israel has not reacted to these accusations.
In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu introduced Fakhrizadeh as the director of a secret military nuclear program that Iran has always denied.