London, Nov 30 (IANS): UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab have expressed concerns over the situation in Iran, as well as the Middle Eastern region, in the wake of the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Tehran's top nuclear scientist.

"We do want to see de-escalation of tensions," Xinhua news agency quoted Raab as saying on Sky News on Sunday.

"We're still waiting to see the full facts of what's happened in Iran, but I would say that we stick to the rule of international humanitarian law, which is very clear against targeting civilians," the Foreign Secretary added.

On November 27, Fakhrizadeh, dubbed the "father of the Iranian bomb", was assassinated near the capital city on Friday by "armed terrorists".

The country's Ministry of Defence said that Fakhrizadeh, a also professor of physics at Imam Hussein University of Tehran, "was severely wounded in the course of clashes between his security team and terrorists, and was transferred to hospital", where he succumbed to his injuries.

Fakhrizadeh also headed theMinistry's Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND).

The Iranian government suspects that the assassination was conducted by Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, though Tel Aviv has neither confirmed nor denied the allegation, according to media reports.

The European Union has strongly condemning the attack and called it a "criminal act".