Thursday, January 12, 2012

Iranian Nucleur Scientist killed: Whodunnit?

Yesterday came news that yet another Iranian nucleur scientist had been killed, and the speculation - and denials of involvement - followed swiftly.

Of course, anyone who watches world affairs has an opinion on this, and Ben Frankel weighs in on Homeland Security News Wire:
Israel takes out another Iranian nuclear scientist

Published 11 January, 2012

Yet another Iranian scientist associated with Iran’s nuclear weapons program has been killed earlier today: Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, who was the deputy director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, was killed when a “sticky” bomb was attached to his car by two men on a motorcycle; in the last two years, Israel’s Mossad has taken out four leading Iranian nuclear scientists; there are reports that this latest strike was a joint Mossad-MEK operation

Israel’s relentless campaign against Iran’s nuclear weapons program has claimed yet another Iranian nuclear scientist. Fars, the Iranian news service, reported this morning that a leading scientist involved in Iran’s nuclear weapons program had been killed in Tehran.

The scientist, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, was the deputy director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, a key link in Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The facility houses a centrifuge farm with about 8,000 gas centrifuges.

Roshan is the fourth Iranian nuclear scientist killed in the last two years. Since the beginning of the decade, about a dozen leading scientists and engineers associated with Iran’s nuclear program have been killed.

The method of Roshan’s killing was similar to the method used by Mossad operatives to kill some of the other scientists: two men on a motorcycle rode near Roshan’s care and attached a magnetic – or “sticky” – bomb to the car, then fled. The bomb exploded a few seconds later.

Reuters reports that in addition to the scientist, the bomb killed one pedestrian and seriously injured another man who was riding in the car with Roshan. That man later died in the hospital.

Similar Mossad operations in the last two years:

  • Two years ago to the day, on 12 January 2010, Tehran University professor Masoud Ali Mohammadi, a senior physics professor, was killed when a motorcycle carrying a hidden bomb exploded near his car as he was about to leave for work....

I don't know enough about Mossad to reach a definitive conclusion, but this is an interesting read, with as much validity as any other opinion on this whodunnit.


Stay tuned.

No comments: