UK urges de-escalation of tensions after killing of Iranian nuclear scientist

British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said Sunday that the U.K. wants to see “de-escalation of tensions” after a top Iranian nuclear scientist was killed near Tehran.

“We are concerned about the situation in Iran and the wider region,” Raab told Sky News.

“We’re still waiting to see the full facts of what’s happened in Iran, but I would say that we stick to the rule of international humanitarian law, which is very clear against targeting civilians,” he added.

Iranian state media reported that Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was shot and killed by “armed terrorist elements” on Friday while in a vehicle in the town of Absard and later died in a hospital.

According to The New York Times, U.S. intelligence believed Fakhrizadeh had been leading Iran’s nuclear program for two decades and kept working after the military effort quietly ended in the early 2000s.

The Times noted that even though Iran has repeatedly denied it was developing a nuclear weapon, an Israeli mission uncovered Iranian documents mentioning Fakhrizadeh and describing “Project Amad,” the name of Iran’s previous nuclear weapons program.

The scientist reportedly was the top target of the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service. Israel has yet to comment om the killing.

Iran’s supreme leader on Saturday called for the “definitive punishment” of those responsible for the killing.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement that Fakhrizadeh was “the country’s prominent and distinguished nuclear and defensive scientist,” The Associated Press reported.