Blast Kills Iranian Nuclear Physicist

by John Smith, Staff Writer

Jan 12, 2010 08:22 AM

A bomb attack in Tehran has killed an Iranian nuclear physics professor.

Officials say a bomb-rigged motorbike exploded Tuesday outside the home of Dr. Massoud Ali Mohammadi, a nuclear scientist and professor at Tehran University.

State television blamed the blast on U.S. and Israeli agents and described Mohammadi as a supporter of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought the Islamic clerics to power.

However, pro-reform Web sites had published Mohammadi's name on a list of university teachers who supported opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in the the June presidential election.

Iran's opposition accuses President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of rigging the June vote to win re-election and has been staging anti-government protests for the past six months.

It is not clear if Mohammadi is connected to Iran's nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at developing a nuclear weapon.

Iran insists its nuclear work is for peaceful purposes only.