Mostafa Ashmadi-Roshan, killed in 2012.
Iran claims to save nuclear engineer from Israeli assassination
Revolutionary Guards source says Israeli attempt failed; Iran blames Mossad for five dead scientists since 2010.
A senior source in the Revolutionary Guards' security apparatus on Saturday accused Israel of twice attempting to assassinate a nuclear scientist in the last two years. He made the comments in an interview with Iran's Fars news agency, and claimed his agents managed to foil the attempts.
The Revolutionary Guards are legally entrusted with protecting senior Iranians and state assets, he said, including those involved with the country's nuclear program. He added that other security agencies were also responsible for this protection as part of their authority.
Memorial for nuclear engineer Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, whose death Iran blamed on Israel. (Photo: Fars News Agency)
At least five Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed since 2010, including the deputy director of uranium enrichment at the Natanz nuclear facility, he claimed. Tehran has consistently claimed that Israel's Mossad, American CIA, and British MI6 were behind the assassinations.
While the US and UK denied their involvement, Israel refrained from responding. In March of last year, 18 indictments were filed against the alleged assassins.
Iran arrested two suspects in 2012 relating to the deaths of nuclear engineer Majid Shahriari and Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, the deputy director of uranium enrichment at Natanz.
Shariari was killed on November 29, 2010 when two motorcyclists attached explosive devices to his vehicle. Roshan was killed with the same method a year and a half later.
Iran has accused Israel of assassinating at least two other scientists besides Roshan and Shariari: Masould Alimohammadi in January 2010 and Darioush Rezaeinajad in July 2011.
Meanwhile, the senior source from the Revolutionary Guards told Fars that no less than 130 attempted airplane hijackings around Iran had been foiled by the security apparatus.
In the most recent attempt, someone on a flight from Tehran to Damascus tried to hijack the plane for political reasons, but security personnel stopped and arrested him. The man was an Iranian citizen who had boarded the plane legally before confronting passengers.
