Iranian nuclear scientist killed in bomb blast blamed on Israel

Iranian nuclear scientist killed in bomb blast

Iranian nuclear scientist and university professor, Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, was killed when his car exploded in North Tehran. The Iranian authorities blamed Israel for what it called a “terrorist bomb blast.” Ahmadi-Roshan was a chemistry engineer and department supervisor at the Nantz uranium enrichment facility, one of two sites where scientists are suspected to be working to advance nuclear weapons technology. Witnesses said the blast occurred after an unidentified motorcyclist stuck a magnetic explosive device to the car, which injured at least two others. This is the fourth such attack in the past two years for which Iran has implicated Israel and the United States for attempting to assassinate key figures involved in the nuclear program, but the countries deny responsibility. Iranian officials asserted they would continue nuclear development, which they maintain is for peaceful purposes, with Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization saying, “America and Israel’s heinous act will not change the course of the Iranian nation.” The attack came during a period of heightened tension between the United States and Iran: the U.S. has increased sanctions, the European Union is in discussions over the imposition of an oil embargo, and Iran defiantly continues its nuclear program and recently announced a second uranium enrichment site.

Headlines  

• An Arab League monitor quit the Syria mission, calling it a “farce”, as the U.N. reported over 400 people have died since its start; U.S. Amb to the U.N. Rice said the regime has “stepped up the violence.”
• Israel is preparing to absorb Syrian refugees, including those from the ruling Alawite minority, expecting the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.
• A U.S. State Department official will meet with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood after their victory in parliamentary elections that claimed about 35 percent of votes for party lists.  
• Gunmen killed a security officer and injured seven people in Yemen’s port city of Aden in an attack on a minibus carrying intelligence officers and soldiers.
• The U.S. Coast Guard rescued six Iranian mariners in the Persian Gulf days after the Navy freed 13 fishermen captured by Somali pirates despite increasing tensions over escalated sanctions on Iran.

Daily Snapshot

KIRYAT MALACHI, ISRAEL — Israelis of Ethiopian origin take part in a rally against racism on January 10, 2012, in the southern Israeli town of Kiryat Malachi, Israel. Hundreds of demonstrators hit the streets of Kiryat Malachi, protesting what they call the discrimination of Ethiopian immigrants. According to Ethiopian residents of Kiryat Malachi, housing committees in the city have been refusing to sell them apartments (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images). 

Arguments & Analysis

‘Christmas is no time for an Iranian revolution’ (Hooman Majd, Foreign Affairs)

“And so life in Iran continues as it always has. The government is less powerful than it was, but the regime itself is firmly in control. The nuclear program continues; Iranians go about their business, grumbling as they do. But a nation that weathered a revolution, an eight-year war with Iraq, and more than 30 years of sanctions and the enmity of the West is not about to crumble, nor to change direction. Nothing that the United States or the West can do — not even war — will solve the “Iran problem” to its satisfaction. In fact, it’s what the United States and its allies don’t do that might be the key to the issue — and what may also give Iranians looking to effect domestic change some badly needed breathing room.” 

‘Can diplomacy save an American condemned to death in Iran?’ (Tony Karon, Time)

“Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was in Tehran last week, and this week will host top U.S. Iran negotiator Undersecretary of State William Burns. Clearly, Ankara is the key player in the efforts to defuse the standoff, although there’s unlikely to be any short-term resolution to the issues at the heart of the conflict. Instead, the diplomatic process will likely once again focus on confidence-building mechanisms. And that, of course, could eventually prove helpful to those pleading the case of Amir Mirzai Hekmati. Whether it will prove sufficient, however, will depend not on Turkey or any other mediator but on just how inclined each side is to back away from confrontation.” 

Intelligence Squared debate — ‘The U.N should admit Palestine as a full member state’

Daniel Levy, Dore Gold, Mustafa Barghouti, and Aaron David Miller squared off yesterday in an Intelligence squared Oxford-style debate to contest the motion: ‘The U.N. should admit Palestine as a full member state.’ Full video here. 

Latest on the Channel

— ‘The unexpected logic of the EU’s ban on Iranian oil’ by Matthew M. Reed

— ‘Don’t write off the Arab League in Syria…yet’ by Richard Gowan

–Tom Kutsch & Mary Casey