TEHRAN – Tehran Governor General Morteza Tamaddon has said that the United States and the Zionist regime are behind the assassination of the Iranian academic, who was shot dead by terrorists in Tehran on Saturday.

“Undoubtedly, this was an American-Israeli project against our intellectuals and thinkers with the aim of discouraging the Iranian nation from continuing the path it has taken,” Tamaddon told reporters on the sidelines of Dariush Rezaiinejad’s funeral procession in Tehran.
Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani also said the assassination has been planned by the U.S. and the Zionist regime.
“Days of the U.S. adventurous policies in the region are numbered, so the U.S. has turned to terrorist groups to cover up its failures,” he told a Majlis session on Sunday.
MP Kazem Jalali of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee has also said that the assassination was an indiscriminate terrorist operation, adding that the Iranian nation know that the Zionist regime and the U.S. are behind these terrorist actions.
“The Zionist regime and the U.S. are the axis of terrorism in the world,” he said.
The MP also called on security and intelligence officials to extend the security umbrella for nuclear scientists to other academics.
A number of Iranian people and students also held a demonstration on Sunday in condemnation of the assassination of the graduate student.
--- Majlis calls for punishment of terrorists
Two hundred MPs issued a statement on Sunday, calling for the arrest and punishment of the terrorists who carried out the recent terrorist actions in Iran including the killing of a number of Islamic Revolution Guards Corps personnel by the counter-revolutionary group PJAK (the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan) in northwest Iran.
“The enemies should know that such desperate actions will not compel the glorious Iranian nation to leave the scene but will strengthen Iranian people’s resistance against the global arrogance,” the lawmakers stated.