Tehran Uses Familiar Tactic

There have been four assassinations of nuclear scientists in Iran over the past two years, three of which have been achieved by sticking magnetic bombs to cars by motorcyclists. The latest killing comes at a time when the tensions between Tehran and the West are at levels not seen for decades, especially as the world has shown to be more informed than ever before of the nature of Iran’s nuclear activities.

Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a director of Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment facility and an expert on chemistry programs associated with nuclear development, was killed instantly in morning traffic on Wednesday when two men on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to the door of his car and sped off. The bomb was then detonated remotely.

Facing the event, the Iranian officials have once again resorted to a familiar tactic, which had in many cases until recently proved to be fruitful. The tactic, which is now well-known by most international circles, has been to quickly point finger to Tehran’s main opposition as well as the whole international community. The newspapers in Iran also lost no time in following the same direction and the regime’s main opposition was called responsible and it was also linked to Israel and the US secret services.

Conversely, what is always covered up on similar issues, is the real nature and the purpose that the assassinations serve as far as the rulers in Iran are concerned. The fact is that the rulers in Iran face a very real and serious problem in front of them. The tensions facing Tehran have aggravated and the sanctions have begun to show effect on Iran’s very fragile economy. It is also well known that any economic pressure on Iran will very rapidly turn into social turmoil.

It was therefore of no surprise when the supreme leader Ali Khamenei decided to intervene to control the volatile situation. Speaking to the persons responsible in his hierarchy, he ordered last year that a special unit of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), and the Quds Force to intervene as soon as a sign was detected of any of the nuclear program experts distancing himself from the ruling system or showed intention of leaving the country for good. Any such sign would be enough and the expert would then have to be eliminated. The scenario would then always be followed by immediately blaming the MEK as well as the agents of the U.S., Israel, and different international bodies. This was essential in order to be able to maintain the situation.

On January 7, only four days prior to the most recent assassination, Fereydoun Abbassi, the Director of Atomic Organization of Iran spoke about the same issue, and referred to widespread dissatisfaction within the nuclear experts in Iran. Speaking to Fars news agency (run by the IRGC), he said: "One should not lose site of the fact that while during the war, some people dodged the fronts, there are some scientists who do not cooperate with the nuclear projects in order to maintain their international relations.... Of course we have never been worried about this since there is plenty of human resources and experts in the country that the demand for taking part in the nuclear projects is more than supply available." He went on to predict that since the enemy cannot prevent the entrance of science into Iran, "it would resort to assassination of Iranian scientists."

That hallmark says as clearly as anything that there is a sustained, covert campaign to kill Iran's top nuclear scientists, widely believed by the West and increasingly by the International Atomic Energy Agency to be developing nuclear weapons despite Tehran's denial.

The killings seem to have been aimed at instilling fear among the scientists and an emotional destabilization of the program. Iranian officials on Wednesday blamed Israel and the United States for the murder of Roshan, but this is no doubt only a repeat of the common hiding tactic used by the mullahs in Iran.

ENDS

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