Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during the opening ceremony of Iran’s 11th parliament, amid the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Tehran, May 27, 2020. Photo: Official Presidential website / Handout via Reuters.

An Israeli official said on Sunday that the world should be grateful to the Jewish state for killing a top Iranian scientist considered the “father” of the theocratic regime’s nuclear program.

The unnamed official told the New York Times that Israel had been tracking Fakhrizadeh for years, and that such operations would continue if necessary to counter Iran’s nuclear aspirations.

He added that these aspirations were not just a danger to Israel, but to the entire world, and that the international community should thank Israel for acting against Iran.

Iran’s openly antisemitic regime has stated many times that it intends to commit genocide against Israeli Jews, and Israel has made it clear that it will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons under any circumstances.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed on Friday near Tehran. Reports indicated that his car was hit by a bomb and he was then shot to death, though precisely what happened remains unclear.

Fakhrizadeh was reportedly Iran’s top nuclear scientist. “Fakhrizadeh was responsible, in the language of physicists who deal with these issues, for weaponization,” Israeli Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Raphael Ofek said. “Among other things, he even arrived as an invited guest to North Korea’s third nuclear weapons test in 2013.”

Fakhrizadeh, said Ofek, was being kept in reserve for the moment when Iran had enriched enough uranium to actually construct a bomb. “As soon as there is sufficient fissionable material ready for a bomb, that’s where his role came in,” Ofek said.