Iranian Nuclear Scientist Killed in Bomb Attack

Amid rising tensions between the US and Iran, an Iranian nuclear scientist was killed by a magnetic bomb that was attached to his car. The victim, Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, was a deputy director at Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility. Tehran’s deputy governor immediately blamed the attack on Israel and the US, citing the similarities that could be noticed between this most recent attack and previous ones in 2010 and 2011. Iranian officials believed that the previous assassinations were carried out by Mossad intelligence service with help from US counterparts. Several analysts and diplomats who have spoken on this incident believe that regardless of who carried out the bombings, the end goal is to deter the Iranian nuclear program from continuing.

Meanwhile, a senior US intelligence official released a statement saying that the Obama administration’s goal in imposing sanctions on Iran is to “[build] public discontent that will help compel the government to abandon an alleged nuclear weapons program.” Other US analysts agreed that sanctions on any country, though intended to impact the government, often create hardships for the general population as well. On the other hand, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has rejected international concern about Iran’s growing nuclear program, and attributed it to a fear of Iran’s development.