An Iranian nuclear scientist, Masoud Ali Mohammadi, has been killed by a remote-controlled bomb planted on a motorcycle in front of his home in northern Tehran, official state media reported. The foreign ministry spokesman said Tuesday 12 January that initial investigations pointed to Israel, America and their agents in a “terrorist attack”, state media IRIB reported. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

It is not known if Ali Mohammed was involved in the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the country’s uranium enrichment programme. He has written and posted papers on quantum mechanics on the Internet, and he was a lecturer at Tehran University.

Tensions have mounted concerning Iran’s controversial nuclear programme, with Western powers accusing Iran of trying to secretly build nuclear weapons. Iran accused the US of kidnapping an Iranian nuclear scientist in Saudi Arabia in May 2009, while he was on pilgrimage to Mecca. In 2007, a former deputy defense minister disappeared while visiting Istanbul, Turkey. Iran has accused the US and Israel of complicity in his disappearance.

Links to other sites: BBC, CS Monitor, Washington Post

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