Iran has held a funeral for its top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was assassinated on Friday in an attack that it has blamed on Israel.
In a televised speech at the ceremony, Defence Minister General Amir Hatami vowed to avenge Fakhrizadeh’s death and continue his path “vigorously”.
A security chief meanwhile said those behind the attack on the scientist had used electronic equipment and not been at the scene, as Iran initially said.
Israel has not commented on the claims.
Fakhrizadeh played a crucial role in Iran’s nuclear programme in the early 2000s and more recently had been accused by Israel of continuing to help develop a nuclear weapon.
Iran insists that its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful.
The funeral ceremony for Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was held at the defence ministry in Tehran, before his remains were transferred to a cemetery in the north of the capital.
Iranian state television showed the flag-draped coffin being carried by troops, and senior officials – including Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi, Revolutionary Guards commander Gen Hossein Salami and nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi – paying their respects.
“The enemies know and I, as a soldier, tell them that no crime, no terror and no stupid act will go unanswered by the Iranian people,” Gen Hatami said.
“We will severely pursue the criminals. They must know that they will be punished for their actions.”
As head of Iran’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, known by its Persian acronym SPND, Fakhrizadeh had carried out “considerable work” in the area of “atomic defence”, the general said.
The government would double SPND’s budget in order to continue the path of the “martyr doctor” with “more speed and more power”, he added.
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The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani, told the ceremony that Iranian intelligence services had been aware of a plot to kill Fakhrizadeh, but that they had failed to stop the attack because innovative methods were used.
“Necessary improvements were made for his security, but the enemy used completely new, professional and special methods and, unfortunately, they were successful,” he said.
“It was a very complex mission using electronic equipment. There was no-one present at the scene.”
Iran’s Fars news agency, which is linked to the Revolutionary Guards, had earlier reported that Fakhrizadeh was killed by a “remote-controlled machine gun”.
English-language Press TV meanwhile cited a source as saying the weapon used in the killing bore “the logo and specifications of the Israeli military industry”.
BBC