Mysterious Assassination in Iran
What a hideous way to die. To emerge from the safety and security of your home, into your vehicle on the way to your place of employment, and then to be blown to smithereens by a bomb installed on a motorcycle parked close to your vehicle. Diabolical and miserable. And this, a favourite method of expunging the existence of evil-doers in American action films, is what occurred to an Iranian nuclear scientist.Dr. Massoud Ali Mohammadi is described by news accounts as a particle physics professor at Tehran University. He was said to be critical of the ruling regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and a supporter of the adversaries of the Supreme Leader and his henchmen, particularly President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. He was also purported to have had no hand in advancing Iran's nuclear agenda.
So why dispatch him? "One can see in preliminary investigations signs of evil by the triangle of the Zionist regime, America and their mercenaries in Iran in this terrorist incident", fulminated foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast. Needless to say, the U.S. responded, "Charges of U.S. involvement are absurd".
Official Israel, while deploring the incident, has said nothing exculpatory, remaining mute on the issue of denial. A colleague of Mr. Mohammadi described him as non-political. "He was a prominent full professor, but he was not a political figure. He had no political activity", according to the head of the faculty of sciences at Tehran University.
But in fact, he was political, having supported Hossein Mousavi in the June 12 presidential election victoriously claimed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And according to a report by journalist Yossi Melman in Haaretz:
"The possibility that Western, or even Israeli, spy agencies are behind the latest assassination is supported by precedent. According to foreign news reports, Israel acted in a similar fashion during the 1960s against German scientists working to develop missiles in Egypt, and during the 1970s against various scientists. These included Egyptians and the Canadian scientist Gerald Bull who worked on Iraq's nuclear and missile projects under Saddam Hussein.This would doubtless make for a fascinating mystery plot by some gifted novelist at some time in the future. Meanwhile, it's also possible, as has been advanced, that the Revolutionary Guard might have been involved, or secessionist elements within Iran, or just plain enemies of the repressive regime. We may never know the truth.
His colleagues at Tehran University claim that Mohammadi was not connected whatsoever with Iran's nuclear program. However, precedent shows that Iranian universities, especially the chemistry and physics departments, have served as a front for Iran's nuclear program. They have purchased and hid equipment, and their professors and experts have served as consultants for the program.
Reports have increased in recent years about attempts by Western espionage agencies to harm Iranian scientists; there have even been a few reports about Iranian scientists who died under mysterious circumstances. In one case, a scientist died at home, ostensibly of suffocation from a gas space heater."
Labels: Middle East, Technology, Troublespots
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, January 13, 2010
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