Iranian officials blame West for bombing that killed top scientist

TEHRAN, Iran — A powerful bomb blast killed one of Iran’s leading nuclear scientists Tuesday in a quiet northern Tehran neighborhood as he was leaving home for work, officials said.

Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, 50, was described by colleagues as a respected Tehran University nuclear physicist. Reformist Web sites and two students also described him as an outspoken supporter of opposition figure Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

Hard-line Iranian officials immediately blamed Israel and the West for the assassination, which came at a time of heightened tension over Iran’s nuclear program.

State television described Ali-Mohammadi as a
“revolutionary university professor martyred in a terrorist operation
by counterrevolutionary agents affiliated” with the West.

“Considering the kind of attack and previous threats
by security and terrorist services close to America and the Zionist
regime, probably this terrorist attack was sponsored by those
services,” said a report on the news Web site Tabnak.

The West and Israel have vowed to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear-weapons capability. Iran’s top diplomat last month accused the United States and Saudi Arabia of kidnapping nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri, who worked for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization and disappeared during a summer religious pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

But Iran is also in the grips of its greatest domestic crisis since the 1979 revolution, with political violence escalating.

Even Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei demanded that pro-government vigilantes rein in their activities
following the assassination of Mousavi’s nephew in December and an
alleged attack on opposition figure Mehdi Karroubi last week.

Though hard-line news outlets described
Ali-Mohammadi as a former member of the Revolutionary Guard, a stalwart
supporter of the Islamic Republic and a loyalist to Khamenei, others contradicted that assessment.

Ali Moqari, president of the science department at Tehran University, told the Mehr news agency that Ali-Mohammadi “had no political activity.”

One student of nuclear physics told the Los Angeles Times
she believed Ali-Mohammadi was killed because of his outspoken support
for the student movement. Another said Ali-Mohammadi cut his ties with
the Revolutionary Guard years ago and in recent months had been vocal
in his opposition to the Islamic Republic.

“Since two months ago, he has been venting his
frustration with almost everybody in the system,” said the student, who
spoke on condition of anonymity. “He was openly criticizing
high-ranking officials in classes.”

The reformist news Web sites Ayandenews and Rahesabz
identified Ali-Mohammadi as among a list of scholars campaigning for
Mousavi during his presidential run against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

A graduate of Tehran’s Sharif University of Technology, Ali-Mohammadi began teaching quantum physics and electromagnetic theory at Tehran University in 1995. He has written books on nuclear science and advised PhD candidates on their dissertations.

Officials offered different scenarios of the
bombing. Some said the bomb was attached to a motorcycle. Another said
it was in a trash bin and set to detonate by remote control.

Neighbors said Ali-Mohammadi had lived for decades
in an old bungalow set amid new multistory apartment buildings in a
quiet, leafy neighborhood in northern Tehran.

Iranian news reports said he was leaving home for work when the explosion erupted. Witnesses said the 7:30 a.m. explosion shattered windows for 150 to 300 feet around.

“Most probably, the bomb had been fixed to the
motorcycle outside Mr. Ali-Mohammadi’s house and exploded by remote
control,” Fakhreddin Jaarzadeh, a Tehran prosecutor, told the Iranian Students News Agency.

Two people were reported injured and a car was set ablaze, witnesses and news reports said.

“I was shocked,” said one resident, who spoke on
condition of anonymity. “I was at breakfast, and our glass breakfast
table shattered.”

Police cordoned off the area as utility workers tried to restore downed power lines.

Iranian officials said forensic experts were conducting examinations but that no suspects had been arrested.

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(c) 2010, Los Angeles Times.

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