Iran defiant as bomb kills nuclear scientist
Source: Agencies |
January 12, 2012, Thursday
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IRAN'S Atomic Energy Organisation said yesterday the country's nuclear path will not change after Tehran accused Israel of killing one of its nuclear scientists in a "heinous act".
The agency said that the nuclear program, which Iran says is for energy and the West says aims to make atomic weapons, would carry on.
"We will continue our (nuclear) path without any doubt ... Our path is irreversible," said the statement.
The statement said the professor, who was killed yesterday by magnet bombs fixed to his car by motorcycle assailants, was an Iranian nuclear scientist.
"The heinous acts of America and the criminal Zionist regime (Israel) will not disrupt our glorious path and Iran will firmly continue this path with no doubt," the statement said.
"The more you kill us, the more our nation will become awakened as our late leader of the Islamic revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had said."
The bomb killed Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a chemistry expert and a director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. Natanz is Iran's main enrichment site.
Two assailants on a motorcycle attached magnetic bombs to the car of the university professor, killing him and his driver.
Roshan, 32, was inside the Peugeot 405 car together with two others when the bomb exploded near Gol Nabi Street in north Tehran, Fars reported.
It said Roshan's driver later died in hospital from wounds sustained in the attack. A passerby was also injured.
The attack in Tehran bore a strong resemblance to earlier killings of scientists working on the Iranian nuclear program.
Safar Ali Baratloo, a senior security official, was quoted by Fars as saying the attack was the work of Israelis.
"The bomb is of the same types already used to assassinate our scientists," he said. "The terrorist attack is a conspiracy to undermine the (March 2) parliamentary elections."
Fars described the explosion as a "terrorist attack" targeting Roshan, a graduate of the prestigious Sharif University of Technology in Tehran.
Roshan was involved in building polymeric layers for gas separation - the use of various membranes to isolate gases.
He was also deputy director of Natanz uranium enrichment plant, in central Iran, for commercial affairs. According to news website mashreghnews.ir, Roshan was in charge of purchasing equipment for Natanz enrichment facility.
The killing of Roshan was similar to previous assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists that Tehran has blamed on Israel's Mossad and the United States. Both countries have denied the accusations.
But Israeli officials have hinted about covert campaigns against Iran, without directly admitting involvement.
On Tuesday, Israel's military chief of staff, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, was quoted as saying Iran should expect more "unnatural" events in 2012.
His comments, to a closed-door parliamentary panel in Jerusalem, were widely interpreted as alluding to previous acts of sabotage.
A similar explosion in January 2010 killed physics professor Masoud Ali Mohammadi.
In November 2010, bomb attacks the capital killed one nuclear scientist, Majid Shahriari, and wounded another, Fereidoun Abbasi.
And in July 2011, motorcyclist gunmen killed Darioush Rezaeinejad, an electronics student who allegedly developed high-voltage switches - required to trigger a nuclear warhead.
The agency said that the nuclear program, which Iran says is for energy and the West says aims to make atomic weapons, would carry on.
"We will continue our (nuclear) path without any doubt ... Our path is irreversible," said the statement.
The statement said the professor, who was killed yesterday by magnet bombs fixed to his car by motorcycle assailants, was an Iranian nuclear scientist.
"The heinous acts of America and the criminal Zionist regime (Israel) will not disrupt our glorious path and Iran will firmly continue this path with no doubt," the statement said.
"The more you kill us, the more our nation will become awakened as our late leader of the Islamic revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had said."
The bomb killed Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a chemistry expert and a director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. Natanz is Iran's main enrichment site.
Two assailants on a motorcycle attached magnetic bombs to the car of the university professor, killing him and his driver.
Roshan, 32, was inside the Peugeot 405 car together with two others when the bomb exploded near Gol Nabi Street in north Tehran, Fars reported.
It said Roshan's driver later died in hospital from wounds sustained in the attack. A passerby was also injured.
The attack in Tehran bore a strong resemblance to earlier killings of scientists working on the Iranian nuclear program.
Safar Ali Baratloo, a senior security official, was quoted by Fars as saying the attack was the work of Israelis.
"The bomb is of the same types already used to assassinate our scientists," he said. "The terrorist attack is a conspiracy to undermine the (March 2) parliamentary elections."
Fars described the explosion as a "terrorist attack" targeting Roshan, a graduate of the prestigious Sharif University of Technology in Tehran.
Roshan was involved in building polymeric layers for gas separation - the use of various membranes to isolate gases.
He was also deputy director of Natanz uranium enrichment plant, in central Iran, for commercial affairs. According to news website mashreghnews.ir, Roshan was in charge of purchasing equipment for Natanz enrichment facility.
The killing of Roshan was similar to previous assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists that Tehran has blamed on Israel's Mossad and the United States. Both countries have denied the accusations.
But Israeli officials have hinted about covert campaigns against Iran, without directly admitting involvement.
On Tuesday, Israel's military chief of staff, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, was quoted as saying Iran should expect more "unnatural" events in 2012.
His comments, to a closed-door parliamentary panel in Jerusalem, were widely interpreted as alluding to previous acts of sabotage.
A similar explosion in January 2010 killed physics professor Masoud Ali Mohammadi.
In November 2010, bomb attacks the capital killed one nuclear scientist, Majid Shahriari, and wounded another, Fereidoun Abbasi.
And in July 2011, motorcyclist gunmen killed Darioush Rezaeinejad, an electronics student who allegedly developed high-voltage switches - required to trigger a nuclear warhead.
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