Iran’s Defence Ministry confirmed the death of a senior Iranian nuclear scientist who led the Organisation of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND) in what it described as “a terrorist attack”. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif declared that “this cowardice – with serious indications of [an] Israeli role – shows [the] desperate warmongering of perpetrators. Iran calls on [the] international community –and especially EU – to end their shameful double standards and condemn this act of state terror”. A military advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei assessed that the U.S. and Israel sought “to intensify pressure on Iran and create a full-blown war”, while Iran’s military chief of staff warned of “severe revenge” against those responsible. President Rouhani on 28 November remarked that “the relevant authorities will respond to this crime at the proper time”, while also indicating that “the Iranian nation is wiser and smarter than to fall in the trap of the Zionists [ie, Israel]”. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres encouraged “restraint and the need to avoid any actions that could lead to an escalation of tensions in the region”. Israeli media subsequently reported that the country had “raised alertness in its embassies around the world”.