Britain’s Telegraph is reporting that an Iranian nuclear scientist involved in his country’s nuclear program is dead and another, who is a specialist involved in preparing nuclear isotopes, has been injured, by what are being called “magnet-bombs” stuck to the windshields of their cars. The Iranian government says this was an assassination carried out by either Israel’s Mossad or the CIA. Another nuclear scientist died earlier in a similar attack. The Telegraph reports:
“President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said: ‘One can undoubtedly see the hands of Israel and Western governments in the assassination.’
The scientist who died was named as Majid Shahriyari. The head of Iran’s atomic energy organisation, Ali Akbar Salehi, confirmed Dr Shahriyari was involved in a ‘major project’.
The other, scientist who was injured was named as Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani. Both men taught at the school of nuclear engineering at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran but their precise roles in its alleged nuclear weapons programme are not known.
Dr Abbasi-Davani is a specialist in preparing nuclear isotopes, on which uranium enrichment depends. He was also said to be a member of the elite Revolutionary Guard.
He was listed as ‘involved in nuclear or ballistic missile activities’ in a 2007 United Nations sanctions resolution.
In January, another nuclear scientist, Masoud Ali Mohammadi, was killed in a similar attack. Again on that occasion Iran blamed Israel and the West, though it was also revealed Mr Mohammadi had expressed support for the opposition Green Movement.
The senior regime links of the latest two targets would on the face of it make an opposition allegiance seem unlikely. But Meir Javedanfar, an Israeli-Iranian analyst, said even in their case an internal regime assassination could not be ruled out.”