Iranian FM: "Serious Indications Of Israeli Role" In  Assassination

Following the assassination earlier today of senior Iranian nuclear scientist Dr Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweets: "Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today. This cowardice—with serious indications of Israeli role—shows desperate warmongering of perpetrators Iran calls on int'l community—and especially EU—to end their shameful double standards & condemn this act of state terror."

• See 1409GMT bullet for more info on Dr Fakhrizadeh's assassination.
• The immediate blaming of Israel comes with an instruction to the EU to 'end their shameful double standards' in condemning the act. At present there is no clear sign of who carried out the assassination, or indeed who ordered the act.
• The incident will undoubtedly see tensions within the Middle East spike. Tehran will undoubtedly be concerned the improvement in relations between Israel and other Middle Eastern states such as the UAE, Bahrian, and Saudi Arabia, will leave the country even more isolated than it is currently.
• Neither the Pentagon, nor the office of the Israeli PM have commented on the assassination yet.
• Occurred in a different manner to the assassination of another senior Iranian official at the start of the year, Qassem Soleimani. In that occurrence, Soleimani was taken out in a US drone strike under the instruction of President Donald Trump. Reports of the Fakhrizadeh assassination talk about a suicide attack on his car around 70 miles outside Tehran, a much less militarily-involved strike.