Iranian Nuclear Scientist Killed in New Attack

By Ladane Nasseri and Calev Ben-David - Jan 11, 2012 8:15 PM GMT+0700

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Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner is visiting China and Japan as he seeks support for sanctions against Iran's nuclear program. Lara Setrakian and Mark Barton report on Bloomberg Television's "On the Move." (Source: Bloomberg)

An Iranian nuclear scientist was killed in a Tehran bomb blast, state media reported, in at least the third assassination targeting the nation’s atomic program that the U.S. and Israel have vowed to halt.

Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a director at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in Isfahan province, and another person died, Fars said. Tehran Deputy-Governor Safar-Ali Bratlou told the state-run agency that a magnetic device was placed under Roshan’s car by a person on a motorcycle. He said the method was similar to previous attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists and blamed Israel for the killing.

“This terrorist action was undertaken by elements of the Zionist regime and those who claim to fight against terrorism,” the official Islamic Republic News Agency cited Iranian Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi as saying.

Iranian officials have accused the U.S. and Israel of targeting Iranian nuclear scientists in an effort to halt the nuclear program, which western nations say is aimed at producing atomic weapons. European Union ministers plan to meet on Jan. 23 to discuss imposing an oil embargo on Iran. Iranian officials have threatened to shut the Strait of Hormuz, a transit route for a fifth of the world’s oil, if crude exports are sanctioned.

Oil Markets

Oil pared losses after the report on Roshan’s death, before falling from near the highest settlement in almost a week on concern over the German economy. Crude for February delivery was at $101.40 a barrel at 12:13 p.m. London time. Prices are up 2.6 percent this year.

Today’s attack “comes in the middle of heightened tensions and it helps Iran to play on a sense of threat that it is under a lot of pressure,” Gala Riani, a Middle East analyst at London-based forecaster IHS Global Insight, said by telephone. “It can also be beneficial to more extremist elements in the government who are supporting further military drills in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Iran conducted naval exercises near the Strait of Hormuz for 10 days that ended early this month. Iran also announced on Jan. 6 plans for the “greatest naval war games” to be conducted by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps next month.

Previous attacks against Iranian nuclear scientists include the assassination of Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, killed by a bomb outside his Tehran home in January 2010, and an explosion in November of that year that took the life of Majid Shahriari and wounded Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, who is now the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.

Human Resources

“While it is difficult to gauge the impact of the scientists’ deaths on the country’s nuclear development, Iranian officials have already acknowledged they have a human-resources problem in the program, largely because of the sharp political differences within the country,” Meir Javedanfar, lecturer on Iranian politics at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center in Israel, said in a telephone interview.

A series of accidents in Iran in recent months have raised suspicions of sabotage against the country’s nuclear program.

A November explosion at a military base west of Tehran killed at least 17 people including a Revolutionary Guards’ director, state media reported at the time. Last year, malicious software known as Stuxnet affected some of the country’s computer systems and several centrifuges used in its uranium- enrichment program, Iranian officials have said.

Spying Accusations

The latest bomb blast follows an Iranian court’s Jan. 9 decision to sentence an American of Iranian descent, Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, to death for spying. U.S. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said allegations that Hekmati worked for the CIA were “simply untrue.”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner will hold talks in Beijing today with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and visit Japan tomorrow as he seeks to urge the nations to cut petroleum purchases from Iran.

“Our enemies are seeing that sanctions and pressure are not sufficient, so they are seeking to create an atmosphere that is driven by a need for security,” Fars quoted Bratlou as saying after the blast.

To contact the reporters on this story: Calev Ben-David at cbendavid@bloomberg.net; Ladane Nasseri in Tehran at lnasseri@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net