Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi (top inset) was killed in an ambush involving an explosion and then machine gun fire on a road between the countryside town of Absard and the capital of Tehran yesterday (the aftermath, top right). His death sent tensions in the regions skyrocketing as Iran accused Israel of trying to provoke a war by assassinating Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi. And, in an intervention that risks inflaming conflict even further, former head of the US's Central Intelligence Agency John Brennan labelled the assassination a 'criminal' act and branded it 'highly reckless'. Hossein Dehghan, who is a presidential candidate in Iran's 2021 election as well as an adviser to its supreme leader Ali Khamenei, echoed the claim that Israel was behind the attack and issued a warning. He said: 'We will descend like lightning on the killers of this oppressed martyr and we will make them regret their actions.' His stark warning follows reports yesterday that Trump (inset bottom left) has deployed the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (main seen last month) to the Persian Gulf alongside other warships in order to provide 'combat support and air cover' for soldiers withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan. The assassination came days after Secretary of State Mike Pompe met Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (bottom) right and allegedly also traveled to Saudi Arabia for a covert meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince.