Israel puts its embassies on alert for fear of reprisals from Iran, according to media

Israel put its embassies on alert for fear of reprisals from Iran, which accused it of being behind Friday's assassination of prominent Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in Tehran province, according to Israeli media reports.

Asked by Efe, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman replied that "they do not comment on security issues", just as yesterday the Prime Minister's Office declined to comment on the accusations that it is responsible for the assassination along with the United States.

Mr Fajrizadeh was killed in an attack in Tehran province after at least one explosion and a shooting at his vehicle by an unspecified number of armed men.

The Iranian president, Hassan Rohani, warned during the day that his country would respond "at the right time and in the right way", while accusing Israel of wanting to "create chaos".

For his part, Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei ordered the country's authorities to punish the material and intellectual authors of the assassination.

So far, the Iranian authorities have not reported any arrests related to the attack nor revealed whether the perpetrators were killed in the assault.

Fajrizadeh was head of the Defence Ministry's Defence Research and Innovation Organisation and was considered by Western intelligence services to be the leader of the former secret programme to develop nuclear weapons.

In 2018 the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had pointed to the prominent Israeli scientist as the leader of an alleged secret nuclear programme, a week before Washington abandoned the pact between Iran and six powers to limit its nuclear development.

The pact, signed in 2015 and known as the JCPOA, has been greatly weakened since Washington withdrew from it and re-imposed sanctions on Iran.

The assassination coincides with the final days in the White House of US President Donald Trump, who has led a belligerent policy against Iran and with Israel as his main partner in the region, before being replaced in January by the Democrat, Joe Biden.