Iran's nuclear scientist killed by member of Mossad

Reports have emerged that Iranian authorities have arrested "a member of Mossad terrorist network” suspected to be behind last year's killing of nuclear scientist Massoud Ali Mohammadi.

Mohammadi, a university lecturer at Tehran University, was killed by a bomb on 12th January 2010, while leaving his home in Tehran.

Majid Jamali Fash, identified as the member of the “terrorist network” said he was trained by Israeli military in Tel Aviv. Speaking about his training, he said: “On a trip to Tel Aviv, I got acquainted with several senior Israeli officers in a base on a highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. There, I learned different things such as tailing, stalking and planting bombs under vehicles."

Fash admitted to being briefed about Mohammadi and given “a very precise model of Dr Ali Mohammadi's house and its whereabouts” in order “to be very well acquainted with the real situation of his assassination.” He also said that he practiced bombing in a military base near Tel Aviv.

The Iranian authorities said that further information about "Mossad's infiltration as well as the dismantling of its espionage networks and the plotting of our prominent scientist's assassination will be gradually revealed in due time."

Mohammadi is not the only Iranian nuclear scientist to have been killing by a bomb attack. Another senior scientist involved in Iran's nuclear activities, Majid Shahriari, was killed by a car bomb, while Fereydoon Abbasi Davani, also a nuclear expert, was injured in a similar assassination attempt.

Sources: BBC News, AFP, The Palestine Telegraph

For more news and expert analysis about Iran, please see Iran Strategic Focus.

Iran to legally pursue bombings of nuclear scientists

A senior Iranian official has said that the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) is going to take-up the case of the recent car bombings against two Iranian nuclear scientists with the UN.

“The Human Rights Committee of Majlis will follow up the issue through the UN and the Human Rights Council,” said Chairwoman of Human Rights Subcommittee of Majlis, Zohreh Elahian.

Elahian insisted that Majlis will take the matter up with the relevant authorities and pursue it legally until it is resolved, in line with the country's efforts to defend its nuclear rights.

Suspected terrorists planted explosives in both Dr Majid Shahriari's and Prof Fereydoun Abbasi's cars on 29th November. Shahriari was killed instantly, while Abbasi and his wife escaped the bombing with minor injuries.

Iranian foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said earlier that Tehran was going to send a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to lament the attacks and call on Ki-moon to put the matter on his agenda.

Earlier in the year, another Iranian scientist, Masoud Ali Mohammadi, was killed in a similar attack. Iran has accused the West and Israel of carrying out these assassinations, and criticised both for failing to condemn the attacks.

Source: PressTV

For more news and expert analysis about Iran, please see Iran Strategic Focus.

Iran to increase security measures for its scientists

Iran has said that it will increase security measures for its nuclear scientists, after one of its experts was killed and another wounded in corresponding bomb attacks in Tehran on Monday 29th November.

Speaking about the attacks, the Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation Ali Akbar Salehi told ISNA news agency that the government has been, “pursuing serious protective measures for hundreds of our scientists and experts since last year and, based on the recent decision, we are to increase protection measures multiple-fold and take other steps as well."

The two bombings were perpetrated by assailants on motorbikes. One of the bombs killed Majid Shahriari, of the nuclear engineering faculty at the Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, and the other injured Fereidoun Abbasi, a nuclear physicist described by the UN as being "involved in nuclear or ballistic missile activities".

Earlier in the year, another Iranian scientist, Masoud Ali Mohammadi, was killed in a similar attack. Iran has accused the West and Israel of carrying out these assassinations, but analysts believe that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard may be behind the attacks aimed as a means to prevent potential defections.

Salehi said that Iran already offered its scientist considerable protection, but that unfortunately the “devilish ways employed by enemies cannot be predicted." He reasoned that the West was responsible for the killings as a means to deprive the Islamic republic of power, saying "The enemy has found that Iran's nuclear work is advancing considerably and has turned into a symbol of power for the Iranian nation. It makes efforts to withhold the Iranian nation from the power, but they made a big mistake."

Additionally, Iran's Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani criticised the West for failing to condemn the attacks, saying "This move by the westerners, who are frequently condemning terrorist acts but have remained silent on the recent assassinations in Iran, is scandalous and disgraceful."

Source: Guardian

For more news and expert analysis about Iran, please see Iran Strategic Focus.