Iran Blames Israel, U.S. for Blast Death of Nuclear Scientist
Iran said Israel and the United States were behind a car-bomb assassination of one of its nuclear scientists in Tehran on Wednesday, calling it a "terrorist act" in the same vein as previous killings of other Iranian scientists.
"This terrorist act was carried out by agents of the Zionist regime (Israel) and by those who claim to be combatting terrorism (the United States) with the aim of stopping our scientists from serving" Iran, Vice President Mohammed Reza Rahimi told state television.
He added that the latest attack would not stop Iran forging ahead with its controversial nuclear program.
"They (Israel and the United States) should know that Iranian scientists are more determined than ever in striding towards Iran's progress," he said.
Mostafa Ahmedi Roshan, 32, was killed when two unidentified men on a motorbike attached a magnetic bomb to his car outside Sharif university in east Tehran Wednesday, media reported. Two passengers in the car were wounded.
Ahmedi Roshan worked at Iran's uranium enrichment facility in Natanz.
Another Iranian official accused Israel of the car-bomb assassination, pointing to similarities with previous killings of other nuclear scientists.
"The responsibility of this explosion falls on the Zionist regime," the governor of Tehran province, Safar Ali Bratloo, told Iran's Arabic-language al-Alam broadcaster.
"The method of this terrorist action is similar to previous actions that targeted Iran's nuclear scientists," he said.
Ahmedi Roshan was the fourth Iranian scientist to be killed in a car bomb blast in Tehran since early 2010. At least two of the others were also nuclear scientists.
Sharif University, Tehran's elite technical university where the slain scientist had studied, said Ahmedi Roshan was specialized in making polymeric membranes used to separate gas. Iran uses gas separation to enrich uranium.
Three other Iranian scientists were killed in 2010 and 2011 when their cars blew up in similar circumstances. At least two of the scientists had also been working on nuclear activities.
One of the attacks occurred exactly two years ago, on January 11, 2010, killing scientist Masoud Ali Mohemmdi.
The current head of Iran's atomic organization, Fereydoun Abbasi, escaped another such attempt in November 2010, getting out of his car with his wife just before the attached bomb exploded.
Those attacks were viewed by Iranian officials as assassination operations carried out by Israel's Mossad intelligence service, possibly with help from U.S. counterparts.
The latest blast comes amid extremely high international tensions over Iran's nuclear program, which the West and Israel believe conceals research to develop an atomic bomb.
Israel has threatened to launch air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. The United States has said "all options are on the table" in terms of dealing with Iran -- including military action.
Tehran, which has repeatedly denied that its nuclear program is for anything other than peaceful purposes, has threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf if it is attacked. Twenty percent of the world's oil flows through that strait.
Wednesday's car explosion followed confirmation on Monday by the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran had started uranium enrichment at a fortified underground bunker southwest of Tehran, in Fordo.
The United States, Britain, France, Germany and Italy have viewed that development with alarm, saying it was a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions on Iran.
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