Iran nuclear scientist 'killed in bomb attack' (in Tehran. Another wounded in a separate incident)

[Turborama]

Source: BBC

An Iranian nuclear scientist has been killed and another wounded in separate attacks, according to Iranian media reports.

The scientists were targeted in Tehran by attackers who attached bombs to each of their cars, reports said. The scientist killed has been named as Majid Shahriari.

He was a member of the nuclear engineering department of Shahid Beheshti University, according to the official Irna news agency. His wife is said to have been injured in the attack.

The scientist injured in the second attack was named as Fereydoon Abbasi. His wife was also wounded.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11860928

---

Iran nuclear scientist killed, another hurt: media

Source: AFP

TEHRAN — An Iranian nuclear scientist was killed and another injured when they and their wives were attacked by "terrorists" on Monday, state television and other media reported.

"In a criminal terrorist act, the agents of the Zionist regime attacked two prominent university professors who were on their way to work," the website of Iran's state television network reported, referring to Israel. "Dr. Majid Shahriari was killed and his wife was injured. Dr. Fereydoon Abbasi and his wife were injured," the report said.

Fars news agency said the scientists were targeted in two different locations by men on motorcycles who approached their vehicles and attached bombs to their cars.

According to the official IRNA news agency, Shahriari was a member of the nuclear engineering department of Shahid Beheshti University in northern Tehran.

More: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g4PwpesHZjTGLfnkTA7-kv2wS5-g?docId=CNG.15cc4feb849a0db79c547e6aa131f09a.431

[TheWraith]

1. As much as the Iranians are usually over the top cartoonish with their rhetoric...

They stand pretty good odds that this was indeed Israeli sponsored if not executed.

[boppers]

2. Well, considering their missile ranges, and their enemies....

Almost any nation in that hemisphere could have good reason to slow them down.

[TheWraith]

7. Yeah, but there's a LARGE gap to number 2 on the Iranian target list.

The only other serious candidate I could think of who would have means, motive, and opportunity, is Pakistan.

[boppers]

13. An argument for...

India: They don't want want another nuclear Islamic state.
Iraq: Bloody war reprisal
North Korea: They want to sell technology, not give it away
*ANY* State that relies on oil revenue: A nuclear powered third world could crash their economies.
Russia: See North Korea

There's billions at stake here, maybe trillions.

[TheWraith]

15. None of those countries except Russia are known to have serious foreign intel capabilities.

And the Russians have better relations with Iran than any of the others on that list, including being one of Iran's biggest trading partners.

[boppers]

16. This isn't serious intel, though.

It was simple bombing hits against well-known public scientists. It's "google-level" intel.

That being said, check this out:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cables-saudis-iran

[TheWraith]

29. Carrying out a successful assassination without getting caught is an intelligence op.

And it requires skilled people and a strong support infrastructure.

[RaleighNCDUer]

26. What enemies are those?

Who has Iran been at war with in the past, oh, hundred years?

Iraq. And Iraq started the fight.

Iran is not an aggressor nation. They haven't been since the 18th century. Anything that Iran is today is a result of OUR fucking with them, overthrowing their elected government in the 50s, placing a dictator on the throne, funding his military and secret service.

They are the boogeyman we need to keep the Saudis on our side, and keep their oil flowing. Just more 'divide and conquer' imperialist crap.

[JDPriestly]

14. If there is any truth to Wiki-leaks documents, this

will not result in any great upheaval in most of the Middle East. We shall see.

Of course, such violence is always to be condemned. It will bring great sorrow to the families of those killed. But geopolitically, it appears there is little risk in actions against the nuclear arms in Iran. Iran's attempt to obtain nuclear weapons has very few friends. It is going against the world trend. And I'm glad to read that so many countries in the Middle East oppose additional nuclear arms there.

[boppers]

17. Those with power oppose the powerless from getting swords...

...guns...
...explosives...
...nuclear technology...

Same as it ever was.

<hitting self in forehead while wearing a large suit>

[SkyDaddy7]

21. The fact that most other Middle East or Islamic countries...

Say they are not interested in getting nuclear weapons is a very good thing that will be gone the minute they know Iran has a bomb! If there is a country they fear and/or hate worse than Israel its Iran! Nothing more violent than an in-house religious spat! Sunni vs Shia.

No one on the planet could stop a country like Saudi Arabia from getting the bomb if they actually wanted it...But if Iran gets one then you can bet Saudi will have 1000 in a very short period of time!

[ronnie624]

27. The article doesn't say Dr Shahriari was working on nuclear weapons.

If I remember correctly, the IAEA has found no evidence of enrichment beyond that which is necessary for producing electricity and other civilian applications.

I'll bet if nuclear engineers were being assassinated in the U.S., you'd be a whole lot more upset about it. In fact, you would probably label it terrorism.

[Demstud]

33. Probably

Though we'll likely never know for sure, Israel obviously has the biggest motivation and it wouldn't exactly be the first time they've assassinated someone in another country that they thought was a threat.

[Ozymanithrax]

3. Why not Saudi sponsored...

...since the pleaded with us to attack Iran, stating that if Iran has Nukes they have no choice but to develop their own.

[TheWraith]

8. Traditionally the Saudis don't do active confrontation and covert ops.

They beg, bribe, or cajole somebody else into doing it for them. Like trying to get us to bomb Iran, even though they've got a shitload of really nice F-16 fighters that WE sold them.

[Ozymanithrax]

9. Which doesn't mean that can not do it...

Hell, it could have been us.

Iran is not exactly surrounded by friends who wish them well, and for good reason.

[TheWraith]

12. True, but it would be extremely out of character for them.

Plus, they've never demonstrated a robust intelligence network or field operational capability.

As for us, I seriously doubt that we would make a move like that right now. The US is currently looking at constructive engagement, and that would be completely down the tubes if the Iranians had any reason to think we were behind this.

The only likely culprits I can see is Israel or Pakistan. Israel is the only country known or suspected to be engaging in active sabotage (Stuxnet); Pakistan is the only other power in the region with a truly impressive intelligence network and an interest in holding the Iranians in check.

[boppers]

18. These are car bombs, not rocket science.

In other theaters, they're called "IED".

You don't need a huge national effort to, oh, bomb someone.

[TheWraith]

28. Carrying out a successful car bombing in a foreign country is harder than you'd think.

Particularly a country with a healthy counter-intelligence apparatus. If that weren't the case, every country with enemies would be covered in car bombs day and night.

[Elmore Furth]

4. I seriously doubt Iranians did this NT

[leveymg]

5. There's a cycle of escalation that, if not stopped, is leading to a disastrous global war.

If the Obama Administration doesn't pressure Israel (and/or the Saudis) to stop this, we will be at war within 18 months. If you liked 9/11, the GWOT, Iraq and Afghanistan, you're going to love war with Iran and its proxies.

[Tunkamerica]

6. "terrorists"?

why not put the whole quote? it seems sarcastic as it is.

(not you, the journalist)

[ronnie624]

23. That struck me also.

Terrorism is political coercion through the use or threat of violence, and this incident clearly fits that definition, but the journalist is a member of our 'tribe', so his writing must agree with the prevailing Western narrative, ie: it's terrorism when they do it, but not when we do it.

[Arrowhead2k1]

10. Hmm, this shit reeks of Mossad... nt

[tomm2thumbs]

11. must be making the rest of the Iranian nuclear scientists edgy

Chinese proverb: Kill one man, terrorize a thousand

[boppers]

19. Kill one man, make a thousand willing to die.

Christianity ended when they were being fed to lions?

No?

Maybe thousands are "terrorized", but that doesn't mean they'll give up and become goat herders, or advertising consultants.

[BenzoDia]

20. deleted....

Wrong post, sorry!

[HEyHEY]

22. Really? Is there a point to killing one scientist?

It's not like they aren't going to figure this shit out anyway.

[ProgressiveMajority]

30. Actually it might be (in theory)

If A.Q. Kahn had not gone to Pakistan its likely they would have never developed nuclear weapons. One scientist can make a huge difference.

Thing is, Iran probably already has the plans and knows what to do, so killing a few of the people implementing those plans will not make a huge difference.

[deminks]

24. Iranian nuclear scientist killed, another injured in Tehran bombings

Source: Washington Post

By Thomas Erdbrink
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, November 29, 2010; 9:38 AM

TEHRAN - A prominent Iranian nuclear scientist was killed Monday and a second was seriously wounded in simultaneous car bomb attacks in the Iranian capital, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

The explosions, which took place in front of Shahid Behesti University, are the latest in a string of recent assassination attempts in which five doctors and professors have been killed in Tehran.

Iranian authorities blamed foreign agents for the killings, saying they want to cause chaos in the country. But leading figures in Iran's opposition movement accused the government of plotting the attacks in order to spread fear in the capital, where many oppose the regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

(snip)

Witnesses said each car was approached by a group of men on motorcycles, who attached explosives to the vehicles and detonated them seconds later, the news agency reported. Shahriari was killed instantly. Abbasi was wounded. Both men were with their wives, who were wounded as well

(end snips)


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/29/AR2010112901560.html

[Dreamer Tatum]

25. No worries - Russia will send more nt

[Turborama]

31. Attack on Iranian nuclear scientists prompts hit squad claims

Tehran accuses the west and Israel of arranging co-ordinated bombings targeting its atomic programme

Julian Borger, Saeed Kamali Dehghan
guardian.co.uk, Monday November 29 2010 20.39 GMT

Tehran today accused the west and Israel of dispatching a hit squad against its atomic programme, after an Iranian nuclear scientist was killed and another injured in co-ordinated attacks.

The attackers rode up on motorcycles and stuck bombs to the windows of the scientists' cars as they were leaving their homes in Tehran on the way to work. Seconds later the bombs detonated.

One bomb killed Majid Shahriar, of the nuclear engineering faculty at the Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran. His wife was in the car with him and was wounded. The second bomb injured Fereidoun Abbasi, 52, a nuclear physicist and professor at Shahid Besheshti, and also injured his wife.

Both men were senior figures in nuclear research. Abbasi, a former Revolutionary Guard, is named in a UN Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Iran as working in banned nuclear activities with Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the scientist accused by western governments of running a secret nuclear weapons programme.

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/29/iranian-nuclear-scientists-attack-claims

[Pavulon]

32. I seem to remember a wikileak doc about Iran running ops in Iraq

seems turnabout is fair play. I mean if we exploded the guys working on a big bomb. Fucking irony all around.