TEHRAN — The alleged killer of a top nuclear scientist who was murdered last year said he was trained in Israel by the Mossad spy agency, state-television reported on its website on Monday.

On Thursday, Majid Jamali Fash, who was the lead suspect among ten arrested,  confessed to being behind last year’s assassination of nuclear scientist Masoud Ali Mohammadi. He said he was trained by Israeli military officers at a base near Tel Aviv. He did not say when he had made the trip to Israel.

Fash said he was briefed about Ali Mohammadi and “practiced bombing in a base near Tel Aviv several times.” He also said he made the acquaintence of Isaeli intelligence officials in Istanbul three years ago, although he stopped short of saying the word “Mossad” in the TV confession. 

“I was given a very precise model of Dr Ali Mohammadi’s house and its whereabouts to be very well-acquainted with the real situation of his assassination,” he said on the website.