Iran vows retaliation against Israel for scientist

Brig.-Gen. Massoud Jazayeri says US, UK collaborated with Israel to kill scientist in act of "state terrorism."

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Iranian nuclear scientist assassination 311 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Iranian nuclear scientist assassination 311
(photo credit: REUTERS)
A senior Iranian commander vowed retaliation against Israel, the US and Britain for what he perceives as their role in the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist last week.
“The opponents of [Iran's Islamic] Revolution and the nation's progress should have no doubt that the punitive response to the US, the Zionist regime (Israel) and their criminal accomplices will be delivered in an opportune time,” Iran's Press TV quoted deputy armed forces chief, Brig.-Gen. Massoud Jazayeri as saying on Sunday.
RELATED:Iranian man pleads guilty to murder of nuclear scientistUN chief: Attacks on scientists to be condemnedThe senior commander also criticized the International Atomic Energy Agency for deliberately releasing the names of Iran's nuclear scientist so that they could be located by “supporters of state terrorism.”
On Friday, TIME Magazine quoted unnamed western intelligence sources as saying Israel's Mossad is responsible for training and paying the assassins of a number of Iranian nuclear scientists over the past two years.
In addition to the assassinations of the scientists, all of which were carried out using nearly identical magnetic bombs attached to the side of their cars, the intelligence sources claimed Israel was responsible for an explosion at an Iranian missile base outside Tehran late last year.
Majid Jamali Fashi, one of several suspects arrested, tried and sentenced to death by the Islamic Republic in the past two years, was part of a cell operated by the Mossad, the sources cited by TIME said.
The latest assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist took place last week in Tehran. Like the others before him, 35-year-old Darioush Rezaie, a physicist, was killed by a magnetic bomb attached to the door of his car.
The assassination came just a few days after Iran announced it was activating the Fordow enrichment facility near Qom, buried hundreds of feet under a mountain.
This raised speculation that Roshan might be connected to the activation of the centrifuges at the new facility.
Stressing that he did not know who assassinated the scientist, IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai wrote on his Facebook page: “I will definitely not shed a tear for him.”
Click here for full Jpost coverage of the Iranian threat
Click here for full Jpost coverage of the Iranian threat