[phantom4570]

Iranian Scientist Assassinated

Assailants on a motorcycle assassinated an Iranian physicist Saturday in front of his home in Tehran, Iranian media reports said, in a killing that bore similarities to other slayings of scientists involved in the country's nuclear work in recent years.

 

[IrishCop]

Hmmmm. Our side or theirs?

 

[phantom4570]

The most obvious answer is Israel but there are other Middle East countries that do not want a nuclear armed Iran. Saudi Arabia doesn't want Iran nuking Riyadh. The other smaller gulf states don't want to be kicked off their thrones. Iran might have done this to suspected saboteurs until learning that they had been compromised by Stuxnet. After Stuxnet I think they will proceed cautiously in retaliating against the brain trust that can actually develop nuclear technology.

 

[Skeptic49]

Never scare a little man, he'll kill you.

Works for countries too.
Geoff
Who figgers running intel in Iran is not easy.

 

[spwenger]

I Saw a News Item Today...

...claiming that that the deceased was not really the scientist but another man with the same name. Iranian disinformation???

 

[Tim Burke]

Don't know, but if I shared that name I'd get nervous.

 

[guntotin_fool]

If it was misinformation from the Govt they would be stupid. Why tell everyone you missed. Hide the real target and pay his family to cry their eyes out. He lives for a while longer with no one looking for him.

 

[phantom4570]

...Iranian disinformation???

Disinformation, incompetence, illiteracy or some combination of the three.

From the CIA World Fact Book on Iran: Age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 77%
male: 83.5%
female: 70.4% (2002 est.)

It is important to understand that reporting countries have varying standards for literacy. Generally the countries with high literacy rates also have higher standards for what constitutes literacy. Countries with lower rates tend to have lower standards.

The low literacy rate suggests to me that the bureaucrats handling the reports could easily have confused the names.

 

[phantom4570]

Report: Shot Iranian said to be nuke expert

A man shot dead on a Tehran street by motorcycle-riding gunmen last weekend was a scientist involved in suspected Iranian attempts to make nuclear weapons and not a student as officially claimed, a foreign government official and a former UN nuclear inspector said Thursday.