Between 2010 and 2012, four Iranian nuclear scientists were assassinated (Masoud Alimohammadi, Majid Shahriari, Darioush Rezaeinejad and Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan) while another scientist was wounded in an attempted murder (Fereydoon Abbasi) Masoud Alimohammadi.
Two of the killings were carried out with magnetic bombs attached to the targets’ cars; Darioush Rezaeinejad was shot dead, and Masoud Alimohammadi was killed in a motorcycle-bomb explosion.
The Iranian government accused Israel of complicity in the killings.
In 2011 and 2012, Iranian authorities arrested a number of Iranians alleged to have carried out the assassination campaign on behalf of MOSSAD (the Israeli intelligence service).
Western intelligence services and U.S officials reportedly confirmed the Israeli connection.
In June 2012, the Iranian government was confident that it had arrested all the assassins.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement, but Israeli defense minister Moshe Ya’alon said: “We will act in any way and are not willing to tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran. We prefer that this be done by means of sanctions, but in the end, Israel should be able to defend itself.”
The assassination campaign was reportedly terminated in 2013 following diplomatic pressure from the United States, which was attempting to negotiate restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities.
The People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) IS also among suspects. Two US senior officials confirmed that MEK was “financed, trained, and armed by Israel” in killing Iranian nuclear scientists.
According to the private American intelligence agency Stratfor, a fifth Iranian scientist was poisoned by MOSSAD in 2007. In 2014 the scientist’s sister accused the Iranian government of involvement in her brother’s killing.
In January 2015, Iranian authorities said that they had thwarted another attempt by MOSSAD to assassinate an Iranian nuclear scientist.
Source: Opera.com
