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Iranian nuclear scientists bombed: Mossad blamed
Israelis blamed after twonuclear scientists attackedin Tehran - one dead, theother injured
On the day that Iran's nuclear programme came under international focus because of the secret cables posted by WikiLeaks, two of Tehran's senior nuclear scientists are reported to have been attacked by bombers. One of the men is dead and the other seriously injured.
Both men were attacked as they were driving by car to work in Tehran. Their assailants drove by on motorcycles and attached bombs to their moving vehicles. The bombs exploded almost immediately and the attackers escaped.
State television immediately blamed Mossad, the Israeli secret service, for the attacks.
The dead man has been named as Majid Shahriari, whose car is pictured above following the attack, and the injured man as Fereidoun Abbasi.
Shahriari was a member of the nuclear engineering faculty at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran. He was killed while his wife, who was in the car with him, was wounded.
Abbasi is a nuclear physicist who works for the Defence Ministry as an expert in nuclear isotope separation. Initial reports said he too had died in hospital but the state news agency now says he is in a stable condition.
He is said to have been seriously wounded. His wife was also in the car with him, and she too was wounded.
The attacks came as leaked US diplomatic cables revealed growing concern not just in Washington and Jerusalem but across the Arab world at Iran's nuclear ambitions.
In one leaked document, an Omani minister was quoted as saying he believed Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar would all be in favour of the US bombing Iran's nuclear facilities.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was quoted in another document asking the US to "cut off the head of the snake". He told an official: "May God prevent us from falling victim to [Iran's] evil. We have had correct relations over the years, but the bottom line is that they cannot be trusted." ·
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Surely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrian could pool their massive resources and bomb Iran themselves? Why do they want the USA to do it for them? Better still, they could tone down their anti Israeli rhetoric, put on just for show, and arrange a deal with the Israelis who are likely to be very keen on such action as part of their 'safe middle east for Israel' plan.
The king of Saudi Arabia calls Iran "the snake" and wants America the "great Satan" (common Islamic anti-US rhetoric, both Sunni and Shia)? They want Obama to "cut off the snake's head"? Are we on the same side now? Or were we on the same side all along, as them wanting to sell us oil and us wanting to buy oil tied us together all along? Any takers? Anyone guessing it was NOT the Mossad who did the bombings?