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TEHRAN: Iran on Friday buried a top scientist it said was slain as part of an Israeli-American covert campaign against its nuclear programme, as a US-led drive for crippling sanctions ran into opposition even from allies.
Diplomats in Vienna, meanwhile, said the UN nuclear watchdog was to send its chief inspector to Iran at the end of the month.
Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a deputy director of Iran's main uranium enrichment plant, was given a funeral service in north Tehran after noon prayers, state media reported.
He and his driver were killed on Wednesday when two men on a motorbike slapped a magnetic bomb on his car while it was stuck in Tehran traffic.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the “abominable” and “cowardly” killing was committed “with the planning or support of the intelligence services of the CIA and Mossad,” of the United States and Israel.
He said in a statement the Islamic republic would “continue with determination” its nuclear activities, which Western governments suspect mask a drive for a weapons capability despite Tehran's repeated denials.
Some media close to Iran's conservatives have called for “retaliation” against Israeli officials. Tehran has demanded that the UN Security Council condemn the “terrorist” killing.
The United States has strongly denied any involvement with the assassination, although Defence Secretary Leon Panetta admitted: “We have some ideas as to who might be involved.”
The prime suspect is widely seen as Israel, as it was in the murders of three other Iranian scientists in similar circumstances over the past two years. Israel, though, has a policy of not commenting on intelligence matters.
