Iran vows response to scientist assassination

Iran has blamed Mohsen Fakhrizadeh's killing on Israel, which has long waged a covert war against Tehran and its proxies in the region. Israeli officials have declined to comment on the killing, and no one has claimed responsibility.

Tehran: Iran says it will give a response with "maximum pain" to those responsible for the killing of a prominent Iranian nuclear scientist last month.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who headed a program that Israel and the West have alleged was a military operation looking at the feasibility of building a nuclear weapon, was killed on Friday in an ambush on the outskirts of Tehran.

Read:|UN calls for restraint after assassination of Iranian scientist

"Iran, as stated before as our definite policy, will independently give a matching response to those who ordered and committed this (the killing of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh) with maximum pain for those who did this, God willing," said Saeed Khatibzadeh, spokesperson for the country's foreign ministry.

In a show of defiance, the Iranian parliament on Tuesday advanced a bill that would end U.N. inspections of its nuclear facilities and require the government to boost its uranium enrichment if European signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal do not provide relief from oil and banking sanctions.

Khatibzadeh said the government believes the bill is neither necessary nor useful.

AP

Read:|Iran scientist linked to military nuclear program killed