Iran blasts kill one nuclear scientist, wounds other

TEHRAN, (Reuters) – Two car bomb blasts killed one  Iranian nuclear scientist and wounded another in Tehran today, Iran’s al Alam Arabic language television reported.
The bombings, rare attacks in the Iranian capital, occurred  ahead of a possible meeting between Iran and major powers next  month to discuss the country’s nuclear programme.
Analysts say information about Iran’s nuclear activities is  very valuable for the United States and its allies, particularly  ahead of the meeting.
In the past months, Iran has arrested a number of “nuclear  spies”, warning citizens over leaking information to foreign  secret services.
“Majid Shahriyari was martyred and his wife was injured …  Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and his wife were both wounded,” state  radio said. “The attackers planted a bomb on each of the  teachers’ vehicles.”
Iran’s atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi warned “enemies” not to  play with fire by carrying out such attacks.
“Our nation’s patience has a limit … when it is over our  enemies will face a tedious fate,” Salehi said, the official  IRNA news agency reported. “Dr. Shahriyari was my student for  many years and he had good cooperation with the Atomic Energy  Organisation.”
Iran’s English language Press TV showed police and plain  clothes security agents examining a silver-coloured Peugeot 206  car with what looked like shrapnel holes in its bonnet.
No group has claimed the responsibility but Iranian  officials and media both blamed Israel, which Tehran calls “the  Zionist regime”, and the United States for the killing of the  nuclear scientist.
Another nuclear scientist, Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, was killed  by a remote controlled bomb in Tehran in January. Some  opposition websites said he backed moderate candidate Mirhossein  Mousavi in the 2009 disputed presidential vote that secured  President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election.
Western sources said in January that Mohammadi worked  closely with Fereydoun Abbassi-Davani, who was subjected to U.N.  sanctions because of his work on suspected nuclear weapons  development.
“Abbasi-Davani has not been seriously injured in the blast,”  the semi-official Mehr news agency said.
Salehi said one of the country’s biggest nuclear projects  was on the killed scientist’s agenda, without giving further  details, IRNA reported.