Iran accuses US, Israel behind murder of nuclear staff

Iranian officials said Wednesday that the United States and Israel are behind the assassination of Iran's nuclear staff.

Local media reported Wednesday that Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, a staff member of Iran's Natanz nuclear enrichment site, was killed by a car bomb attack in Gol Nabi Street near the Ketabi square in northern Tehran on Wednesday morning.

Iran's First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi said Wednesday that Israeli agents were the perpetrators of Ahmadi-Roshan's assassination, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The enemies should know that they will not be able to stop Iran 's scientific progress by such terrorist acts, Rahimi was quoted as saying.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Wednesday that the assassination of the country's nuclear scientist is an indication of Israel's persistence on inhumane terrorist acts, with the support of certain Western states especially the United States, to curb the "peaceful" nuclear activities of the Islamic republic, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Mehmanparast said that Iran will sue the assassination of Ahmadi-Roshan through the international channels.

Rapporteur of Iran's Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Kazem Jalali said Wednesday the Israeli and U.S. intelligence agencies are behind the assassination of the Iranian nuclear scientist.

Jalali said past experiences show that terrorist acts such as the assassination of Ahmadi-Roshan are the work of the intelligent agencies of the Zionist regime and the United States.

Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani condemned the assassination of Ahmadi-Roshan as an indication of the depth of hostility of enemies toward the country, the local satellite Press TV reported Wednesday.

"This is not the first time that arrogant powers adopt such futile measures," Larijani said, adding that Iran's enemies are aware that these actions cannot undermine the resolve of the Iranian nation.

On Wednesday, Fars reported that an assailant on a motorcycle stuck a bomb on the side of Ahmadi-Roshan's car, killing the man immediately and injuring two other people in the car.

One of the wounded, who was the driver of the car, died in the hospital later Wednesday, according to IRNA.

Earlier, media reports identified Ahmadi-Roshan as a university professor, and Fars and local Press TV said he was a "nuclear scientist."

The IRNA later quoted an announcement by Tehran's Sharif University as saying that Ahmadi-Roshan was a staff member of Iran 's Natanz nuclear enrichment site.

The 32-year-old victim was the deputy chief of Natanz nuclear enrichment site's commercial section, said the IRNA.

He graduated from Tehran's distinguished Sharif University in 2003, majoring in chemistry engineering, according to the IRNA.

It was not immediately clear whether Ahmadi-Roshan was directly involved in Iran's nuclear program.

Several Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated in recent years.

In June 2011, local media reported that Dariush Rezaeinejad, a 35-year-old man who majored in electro-techniques at Tehran's Khajeh Nasir University and worked for the Iranian Defense Ministry, was killed by motorcyclists in front of his home in eastern Tehran.

In November 2010, Iranian nuclear scientist Majid Shahriari was killed by a bomb attached to his car on the way to his work.

In January 2010, Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, a nuclear scientist from Tehran University, was killed by a remote-controlled bomb attached to a motorbike parked near his house.

Iran has accused Israel of assassinating its nuclear scientists, and has blamed the United States for being behind the terror acts against Iranian scholars.

The West suspects that Iran's uranium enrichment may be meant for producing nuclear weapons. Iran denied the accusation, saying its nuclear program is only for peaceful use.