Part 3: tensions increased over Iran’s nuclear program
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Scientist’s Death Deepens Fury at Israel and the U.S.
The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, a top nuclear scientist who narrowly avoided an assassination attempt less than two years ago, has been given a new post as the commander for nuclear and radioactive emergencies, the Iranian military announced Tuesday
Dr. Abbasi is well known among United Nations nuclear experts, who consider him a major figure in Iran’s nuclear program, which the Iranians have insisted is peaceful but which Western nations suspect is a cover for possible weapons development. He is on a Security Council blacklist under sanctions that have penalized Iran for refusing to halt all uranium enrichment.
He is perhaps best known for having escaped death on Nov. 29, 2010, by a motorcycle assassin in Tehran who slapped a magnetized bomb on his vehicle. Dr. Abbasi was wounded; another top Iranian nuclear scientist was assassinated in an identical Tehran bomb attack the same day. Iranian leaders said the double bombing was an act of terrorism carried out by agents of Israel, which considers Iran its most dangerous enemy and has made no secret of its desire to subvert Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
The Iranian military’s announcement that Dr. Abbasi had been given a new title, commander of the Crisis Management Center for Nuclear and Radiation Accidents, was reported by Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency. It was not clear from the announcement why Dr. Abbasi had been chosen for the new responsibility or whether it means he will relinquish his existing position.
On Jan.
11, as tensions increased over Iran’s nuclear program and belligerence toward
the West mounted, Iran reported that
an Iranian nuclear scientist died in what was termed a
“terrorist bomb blast” in northern Tehran when an unidentified motorcyclist
attached a magnetic explosive device to the scientist’s car. It was the fourth
such attack reported in two years and, as after the previous incidents, Iranian
officials indicated that they believed the United States and Israel were
responsible.
The next
day, Iran expressed deepening
fury at Israel and the United States over the scientist’s death, and
signaled that its Islamic
Revolutionary Guards Corps might carry out revenge
assassinations.
News of
the killing dominated Iran’s state-run news media, which were filled with
vitriolic denunciations both of Israel, seen in Iran as the main suspect in his
death, and the United States, where top officials have gone out of their way to
issue strongly worded denials of responsibility.
Israeli
officials, who regard Iran as their country’s main enemy, have not
categorically denied any role in the killing, which came against a backdrop of
growing pressure on Iran over its disputed nuclear
program.
