Israel put its embassies around the world on high alert on Saturday after Iranian threats of retaliation following the killing of a nuclear scientist near Tehran, Israeli N12 news reported on Saturday.
Iran has blamed Israel for the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the Iranian scientist suspected by the West of masterminding a secret nuclear bomb program, who was gunned down in an ambush near Tehran on Friday.
A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said the ministry did not comment on matters of security regarding its representatives abroad.
The report comes shortly after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promised to retaliate for the killing of Fakhrizadeh, which Iran has blamed Israel for.
"Once again, the evil hands of global arrogance and the Zionist mercenaries were stained with the blood of an Iranian son," Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told a televised cabinet meeting early Saturday.
In addition, it was revealed earlier U.S. aircraft carrier USS Nimitz was deployed to the Gulf this week, days before the killing of the Iranian scientist, although the U.S. Navy said the deployment was not related to any specific threat.
"There were no specific threats that triggered the return of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group," Commander Rebecca Rebarich, spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet, said in an emailed statement after the carrier deployed on Wednesday.
Rebarich said the redeployment was related to a U.S. drawdown in Iraq and Afghanistan. "This action ensures we have sufficient capability available to respond to any threat and to deter any adversary from acting against our troops during the force reduction," she said.