On Nov. 29, Iranian nuclear scientist Dr. Majid Shahriari was assassinated on his way to work. A simultaneous assassination attempt on another nuclear scientist, Dr. Fereidoon Abassi, failed, although Abbasi, his wife and his driver were injured. Both scientists held high positions in Iran’s nuclear program.
 Dr. Shahriari was assassinated in his car. |
Shahriari was the leader of a team of scientists working on the development and design of a nuclear reactor core. He was killed when motorcyclists attached a “sticky bomb” to his vehicle that detonated seconds later. Abbasi, on the other hand, reportedly suspected foul play prior to the explosion. All three passengers had already exited the car by the time the explosive detonated. For this reason, none of them suffered life-threatening injuries.
This was not the first time an Iranian nuclear scientist has been assassinated. In 2007, nuclear scientist Ardeshir Hassanpour was killed by poisoning in an operation linked to the Israeli Mossad. In January 2010, another nuclear scientist, Professor Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, was murdered with an improvised explosive device.
The Nov. 29 attacks were carried out by professionals. The assassins would need to have conducted extensive surveillance of the scientists prior to the attacks. The terrorist operations also showed that the assailants had access to IEDs and were skilled in how to plant and detonate them. The fact that both scientists were targeted simultaneously removes the possibility of personal or spurious motives for the attacks.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has accused the United States and Israel of being behind the terrorist attacks. Given the obvious motive, it is hard to imagine any other culprit. The assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists are designed not only to eliminate some of the key scientific figures working on Iran’s nuclear program, but also in hopes of persuading other scientists to cease their work out of fear for their lives.
The attacks occurred on the eve of a new round of negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program scheduled for Dec. 6 and 7 in Vienna.
The United States, Israel and their imperialist allies accuse Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapons program. They view possession of nuclear weapons as normal and natural when it comes to their own massive stockpiles of atomic bombs, but a danger to humanity when it comes to Iran. Of course, there is no evidence to support accusations of Iran pursuing the development of nuclear weapons, as hundreds of inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency have shown no conversion of enriched uranium to weapons grade levels. Nor have the inspections and years of investigations provided evidence of any project, site, facilities, or personnel working on a nuclear weaponization program.
However, for years the United States and Israel have openly threatened Iran with military attack. Presidents Bush and Obama have both arrogantly and illegally stated that “all options are on the table” in dealing with Iran. The term “all options” is an obvious reference to the use of nuclear weapons. Faced with such hostile threats, and considering that Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran’s neighbors to the east and west, have been under U.S. occupation, Iran has every right to develop nuclear weapons to defend itself, should it decide to do so.
In reality, U.S. hostility toward Iran is no more about nuclear weapons than the invasion of Iraq was about weapons of mass destruction. From Washington’s perspective, any independent regime that does not take its orders from imperialist masters, does not open its resources to big oil and giant corporations and supports political movements fighting for independence should be targeted for regime change. The public relations justifications Washington gives for invasions, occupations, terrorist attacks and other forms of intervention are not to be confused with the real motives.
But what the U.S. government fails to take into account is people’s resistance. This failure is evident in its miscalculations in the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. The fact that Washington continues dreaming of returning Iran to its status prior to the 1979 revolution—a U.S. client state—is another example of an empire failing to recognize that people fight back against attempts to subordinate them.
