Middle East News

Car bomb in Tehran kills Iranian scientist

Jan 11, 2012, 9:43 GMT

A handout picture made available by Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s official website shows Ayatollah Khamenei speaking to his supporters in Tehran, Iran, 09 January 2012. K EPA/HO

Tehran - A car bomb killed a chemistry scientist and injured two in Tehran on Wednesday, official sources said, in the latest in a series of apparent attacks on Iranian scientists linked to the country's disputed nuclear programme.

A motorcyclist attached a magnetic bomb to the car of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan.

A spokesman of Sharif University in Tehran said the man was a chemistry graduate and now lecturer at the university, and had been working on scientific projects.

Fars news agency reported that Roshan was commercial deputy of the uranium enrichment site of Natanz in central Iran. The Fars report has not yet been confirmed by official sides.

Official news agency IRBA reported that the two people in Roshan's car who were injured underwent emergency surgery.

Safar Ali Bratloo, a deputy in the Tehran governor's office, compared the incident to assassination attempts in the last two years on three other Iranian scientists who worked on nuclear projects.

Bratloo accused Israeli agents of being linked to Wednesday's assassination, saying, 'The Zionists are trying to intimidate the people by these acts into not attending the elections.'

Iranian parliamentary elections are scheduled for March 2.

The Iranian government and parliament condemned the incident and accused 'imperialistic powers,' namely Israel and the United States, of being involved in the assassination.

'The enemies of Iran should know that with such terrorist acts, they cannot stop Iran's scientific progress,' Vice-President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi said in a statement carried by ISNA.

'The agents of the imperialistic powers have been involved in this assassination,' Rahimi added.