On Friday, prominent Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was murdered east of the capital Tehran, Iran's ministry of defense reported in a statement.

The statement reported that Fakhrizadeh died in hospital due to injuries sustained during a shoot-out on Friday afternoon between his bodyguards and "armed terrorists."

The statement described Fakhrizadeh as the head of the "Research and Innovation Organization" of the defense ministry.

No parties were suspected of involvement by the defense ministry.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency, as well as other Iranian sources, including the official IRIB news agency, had previously confirmed the murder, adding that he was allegedly killed in the town of Absard, 43 miles east of the capital of Iran.

Western, Israeli, and Iranian exile enemies of Iranian clerical rulers have long identified Fakhrizadeh as the chief of a secret atomic bomb program stopped in 2003. Iran has long declined to try to weaponize nuclear power.