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2012-01-11 Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iranian 'nuclear scientist' killed in Tehran bomb attack
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Posted by tipper 2012-01-11 04:00|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [11136 views ]  Top

#1 Apparently a magnetic bomb attached to the car.

Not the kind of thing you rig in your garage.
Posted by phil_b 2012-01-11 04:26||   2012-01-11 04:26|| Front Page Top

#2 Bad Halliburton!
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2012-01-11 05:27||   2012-01-11 05:27|| Front Page Top

#3 He was a university lecturer - maybe a student didn't like the grade he got.
Or maybe somebody lower in the food chain was creating space for a promotion.
Or maybe Allan was sending a message.
Posted by Glenmore 2012-01-11 07:49||   2012-01-11 07:49|| Front Page Top

#4 Another report has him identified as a "Iranian university professor specializing in petroleum."

And this raises some interesting questions. First of all, of course, is that his title might be a cover for nuclear activities.

However, most of Iran's petroleum production is centered in Khuzestan, in the southwest, next to Iraq. It is Arabic in character, not Persian, and the Arabs have long been treated as second class citizens by the Persians. It is a restive region, and the Persians have been brutal putting down the Arabs there.

This guy might have been seen as very important to the continued Persian exploitation of "Khuzestan's oil", by the Arabs who live there, and maybe was responsible for Arabs being displaced so that exploration could be conducted.
Posted by Anonymoose 2012-01-11 07:49||   2012-01-11 07:49|| Front Page Top

#5 heh. Keep on killing them one-by-pne
Posted by Frank G 2012-01-11 08:10||   2012-01-11 08:10|| Front Page Top

#6 pne? *coffee please*
Posted by Frank G 2012-01-11 08:11||   2012-01-11 08:11|| Front Page Top

#7 Iranian nuclear scientists are just clumsy...VERY clumsy. Maybe this guy was just running with scissors, or went swimming after eating.
Posted by Justrand 2012-01-11 08:58||   2012-01-11 08:58|| Front Page Top

#8 Perhaps the underside of his vehicle was somehow strongly magnetized and inadvertently picked up an ensconced explosive from somewhere.

Perhaps it was Allen's will, some guy's orneriness at being stuck down a well for thirteen centuries, or something much more sinister.
Posted by Mullah Richard 2012-01-11 10:08||   2012-01-11 10:08|| Front Page Top

#9 An operation like this has an external nation helping at least. I bet Israel is helping the people in the region rebel.
Posted by DarthVader 2012-01-11 10:12||   2012-01-11 10:12|| Front Page Top

#10 Looks like the sanctions are beginning to work as well.
0812 GMT: Currency All-is-Well Alert. State news agency IRNA has no news on the Iranian currency this morning, but it does feature an interview with an official, noting the rise in interest rates to 20%. The effort is to reduce the flow of cash in the economy, but the official says it will increase capital investment by banks in an "impressive market".
0749 GMT: Economy Watch. With Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani declaring that "price increases would impose a heavy burden on the shoulders of the people", the Majlis has passed a bill which limits the rise in cost of State-provided services and goods --- such as energy --- to 20% in one year.
Posted by tipper 2012-01-11 10:12||   2012-01-11 10:12|| Front Page Top

#11 Natanz is located approx. 300 miles from the Iran-Iraq border where most of the Iranian arabs live. I doubt the Arabs had anything to do with it.

My most likely scenarios are:
1) The Iranian cyberpolice caught him being 'indiscreet' about the nuclear program.
2) He was one of the guys who carried Stuxnet inside the firewall, and now he's being punished.
3) If he was in charge of commerce at the site, he was responsible for selling the output. This may be the result of a 'price disagreement.'
4) The rebels or Mossad have identified him as a nuclear scientist and eliminated him.
Posted by Frozen Al 2012-01-11 10:57||   2012-01-11 10:57|| Front Page Top

#12 Sucks to be an Iranian nuclear scientist. I think if I was Iranian I'd aspire to be a carpet weaver.
Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305 2012-01-11 11:39||   2012-01-11 11:39|| Front Page Top

#13  We'll know the West is getting serious about terrorism when the Saudi money men start having accidents too.
Posted by woggut 2012-01-11 12:21||   2012-01-11 12:21|| Front Page Top

#14 Ebbang,
After the Shah of Iran was deposed, there was an exit by a large number of Iranian intellectuals (doctors, professors, engineers, etc.,), many of whom came to the US. We gained and the Islamic republic lost, big time.
Posted by Mike Ramsey 2012-01-11 12:47||   2012-01-11 12:47|| Front Page Top

#15 We'll know the West is getting serious about terrorism when the Saudi money men start having accidents too.

Woggut,
Amen.
Posted by Mike Ramsey 2012-01-11 12:48||   2012-01-11 12:48|| Front Page Top

#16 It does suck to be an Iranian nuclear scientist. Job security is non-existent.

On the other hand, he might have been driving a Chevrolet Volt made by Govmint Motors. In which case there are some positives about the Volt.
Posted by JohnQC 2012-01-11 12:50||   2012-01-11 12:50|| Front Page Top

#17 "Candy Gram!"
Posted by mojo 2012-01-11 15:01||   2012-01-11 15:01|| Front Page Top

#18 Iran, you lost ANOTHER nuclear specialist?
Posted by European Conservative 2012-01-11 18:41||   2012-01-11 18:41|| Front Page Top

#19 Mojo,


"Land shark!"
Posted by Mike Ramsey 2012-01-11 18:45||   2012-01-11 18:45|| Front Page Top

#20 I'll go with "What is option # 4 above", Alex.

Pretty damn sweet!
Posted by Slomp Oppressor of the Faeries1490 2012-01-11 20:19||   2012-01-11 20:19|| Front Page Top

#21 Latest ...

TOPIX > IRAN LAWMAKER: DEATH OF NUCLEAR SCIENTISTS PROVES IAEA LEAKED INFO TO IRAN'S ENEMIES. Read, US + Israel, as illustrated or symbolized by Roshan death.

* SAME > IRAN VP RAHIMI: ASSASSINATION OF NUCLEAR SCIENTISTS [e.g. Roshan] BY FOREIGN GOVTS. WILL NOT STOP NUCPROG, + will only intensify the dedication of Iran + Scientists to accomplish their country's nuke agenda.

* SAME > ISRAELI MILITARY CHIEF: IRAN SHOULD EXPECT MORE "UN-NATURAL" EVENTS IN 2012.

MILBLOGGERS = As per the above, opine that Israel is essentially admitting it carried out the hit on Roshan, ala MOSSAD = MOSSAD-LED COVERT OP???

Posted by JosephMendiola 2012-01-11 20:31||   2012-01-11 20:31|| Front Page Top

#22 My guess is internal power struggles. Treason would be broadcast on TV and exemplary punishments meted out. Nuke work is probably the most lavish government-funded project in Iran, and anyone assigned to it is likely very connected to a powerful faction. All dictatorships, at least after the initial charismatic god emperor (in this case Khomeini) has passed on, are composed of shifting rival* factions. My feeling is that rival Iranian factions are whaling on each other, with no faction strong enough to completely eliminate another, meaning that any attempt by one faction at complete suppression could touch off a regime-wide schism and potentially civil war.

* Why rival? Because there's only a finite amount of power and resources to go around.
Posted by Zhang Fei 2012-01-11 20:43||   2012-01-11 20:43|| Front Page Top

#23 I agree with Zhang Fei, this is likely internal Iranian politics, not Mossad or CIA. The nuclear scientists would be seen as darlings of Ahmadinejad and would be targeted by his political opposition.

Posted by crosspatch 2012-01-11 21:46||   2012-01-11 21:46|| Front Page Top

#24 And in this case, they can make a two-fer out of it by blaming the evil Jooooos.
Posted by gorb 2012-01-11 21:48||   2012-01-11 21:48|| Front Page Top

#25 I remember an old Soviet joke:

An American missile engineer meets a Soviet one:

Says the American:

- Our program is very advanced: We even have a special button to blow up our rocket if it malfunctions."

- Hah, says the Soviet, our program is far better, we have TWO buttons!

- Two? Why two? asks the American.

- One button to blow up rocket and another button to blow up specialist!
Posted by European Conservative 2012-01-11 22:00||   2012-01-11 22:00|| Front Page Top

#26 #18 Iran, you lost ANOTHER nuclear specialist?

This one is my favorite! But I admit to having a thing for "The Hunt for Red October".
Posted by SteveS 2012-01-11 22:26||   2012-01-11 22:26|| Front Page Top

#27 I think the best part of the whole deal is all the speculation about whodunnit.

Who can you trust, Imam?
Posted by Abu Uluque 2012-01-11 22:27||   2012-01-11 22:27|| Front Page Top

#28 I agree with Zhang Fei, this is likely internal Iranian politics, not Mossad or CIA.

The only way I see Western intelligence agencies involved is in the midst of a shooting war, during which personnel losses would disappear into the daily casualty lists. Why would anyone waste highly-placed intelligence assets on assassinating replaceable personnel? And they're all replaceable - much as we're inclined to believe that the Iranian people are a bunch of Westernized individuals waiting for liberation by a Western army, the possibility is that they're just like the Egyptians, meaning that there are no shortage of Ahmedinejads waiting in the wings.
Posted by Zhang Fei 2012-01-11 22:37||   2012-01-11 22:37|| Front Page Top

#29 @Steve S
One of my favorites, too.

For the 0.0001% of Rantburgers who don't know the full quote:

Ambassador Andrei Lysenko: There is another matter... one I'm reluctant to...
Dr. Jeffrey Pelt: Please.
Ambassador Andrei Lysenko: One of our submarines, an Alfa, was last reported in the area of the Grand Banks. We have not heard from her for some time.
Dr. Jeffrey Pelt: Andrei, you've lost another submarine?

I think the faces of both were absolutely priceless
Posted by European Conservative 2012-01-11 23:04||   2012-01-11 23:04|| Front Page Top

00:28 Slomp Oppressor of the Faeries1490
23:37 badanov
23:32 Thurong Forkbeard5561
23:32 Slomp Oppressor of the Faeries1490
23:26 Iblis
23:25 Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo)
23:21 Slomp Oppressor of the Faeries1490
23:16 Thurong Forkbeard5561
23:08 Canuckistan sniper
23:04 European Conservative
23:01 JosephMendiola
22:49 JosephMendiola
22:46 Dale
22:43 JosephMendiola
22:37 Zhang Fei
22:37 JosephMendiola
22:27 Abu Uluque
22:26 SteveS
22:24 SteveS
22:22 Pappy
22:20 Pappy
22:16 Pappy
22:15 gorb
22:00 European Conservative
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