One Iranian nuclear scientist was killed and another badly injured by car bombs in Tehran today in two separate attacks.
The slain scientist, Majid Shahriari, was a member of the nuclear engineering team at the Shahid Behesti university in Tehran as was the injured scientist, Fereydoun Abbasi Davani.
Shahriari was "in charge of one of the great projects" at Iran's Atomic Energy Agency, the Islamic republic's nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.
The other scientist, Davani, is a senior defense ministry and armed forces logistics scientist, and a member of the Revolutionary Guards. He is also said to be one of the few specialists who can separate isotopes.
The assassins, riding motorcycles, tossed bombs at -- or attached them to -- the cars of the two Shahid Behesti University professors as they drove with their spouses en route to work.
"A Pulsar motorbike drove close to Dr. Shahriari's car and stuck a bomb on his car which after a few seconds exploded," Tehran police chief Hossein Sajednia was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency.
"Experts are examining the incidents," Sajednia said. "The type of the bombs and explosive materials and the extent of damage have not been determined yet."
Both scientists were reportedly members of Iran's Basiji militia, which is unusual since the membership of the Basij is mainly drawn from the working and lower middle class, rather like Hitler's SA. If true, the two scientists were very active in politics.
Needless to say, the Iranians are blaming the Mossad and the CIA for the bombings.
Imagine...Iran upset over 'terrorism'!
the cia couldn't find it's ass using both hands.
ReplyDeleteOh, I think you're mistaken on that one Louie.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of Tony Montana's dilemma in Scarface, where he refuses to detonate the car bomb with the wife and daughter inside the car. I suppose that's why Iran's nuke scientists drive their wives to work every day.
ReplyDeleteLouie is spot on. The CIA is incapale of finding its as! with both hands. The organization is completely incompetent. When the level of sophistication invloved in this attack, I knew right away the CIA could not have been involved. The nature of the attack is way beyond their capabilties. For starters, they would have to infiltrate into Iran not to mention carry out the attack. The current CIA is incapable of either.
ReplyDeleteIf the CIA were involved, they would be helping Iran. The CIA would not operate against Iran.
As I told Louie, I think you vastly under rate the CIA's effectiveness and competence.
ReplyDeleteWhen you take an espionage organization, put a political hack with zero espionage or national security background like Leon Panetta in charge and handcuff it so that it's difficult for it to do what it was created to do, you have to expect certain results.
However, in those instances where the CIA has been permitted to operate the way most clandestine services are able to in other countries, they are quite effective.
I'll testify to that personally.
Keep in mind that in a truly successful operation, you never hear anything about it - just the failures become public, especially when politicians are looking for a scapegoat.
Regards,
Rob