Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and other Iranian leadership are blaming Israel for the death of their head nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh; Rouhani: Iran will surely respond to the martyrdom of our scientist at the proper time.

Following the assassination of Iran’s leading nuclear scientist on Friday, Iranian leadership was quick to conclude that Israel played a large role in carrying out the attack. Now, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is vowing a response to the killing of the individual who is suspected have headed at least one of Iran’s covert nuclear programs.

59-year-old Mohsen Fakhrizadeh and his bodyguard were part of a caravan travelling an hour and a half east of Tehran when both were shot inside of their sedan. While his bodyguard died at the scene, the scientist was confirmed dead at the hospital. The Iranians are identifying both of them as “martyrs.”

On Saturday, the regime responded further to the attack. Rouhani stated, “The assassination of martyr Fakhrizadeh shows our enemies’ despair and the depth of their hatred… His martyrdom will not slow down our achievements,” he said, adding that “our people are wiser than to fall in the trap of the Zionist regime…Iran will surely respond to the martyrdom of our scientist at the proper time.”

Additionally, one of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s advisors, Commander Hossein Dehghan, took to Twitter saying, “In the last days of the political life of their…the Zionists seek to intensify pressure on Iran and create a full-blown war. We will strike as thunder at the killers of this oppressed martyr and will make them regret their action.”

The Iranians have been increasing their nuclear stockpile for several years, and it has escalated following the US decision to withdraw from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The death of Fakhrizadeh is considered a major setback.