Furious Iran wants action over scientist's killing
13 January, 2012
TEHRAN: The assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist sparked deep fury in Tehran on Thursday against prime suspect Israel and against the United States, which said it had nothing to do with the murder.
Some hardline newspapers even called for retaliatory action, with one, Keyhan, saying in an editorial that "assassinations of Israeli officials and military are achievable." The Iranian government's reaction was just as angry, though more measured. In a letter demanding a strong condemnation from the UN Security Council, it said it had evidence unnamed "foreign quarters" were behind the killing of scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan on Wednesday.
The 32-year-old deputy director of Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment facility died when two riders on a motorbike rode by his car trapped in Tehran's rush-hour traffic and slapped onto it a magnetic bomb that directed a deadly blast inside the vehicle. The blast also killed Ahmadi Roshan's driver/bodyguard and wounded a third occupant of the Peugeot 405. The attack was similar to four others that have occurred in Tehran in the past two years.
The latest attack dominated Iran's media on Thursday. Many outlets criticised what they said was the silence of the West over the killings. More conservative titles urged tit-for-tat covert action against Israel.
"The only way to finish with the enemy's futile actions is retaliation for the assassination of Iran's scientist," the Resalat newspaper said on its front page. "It is legal under international law to retaliate for the killing of the nuclear scientist," the Keyhan daily said.
The Qods daily's headline read: "Western revenge after Iran announces 20 percent enrichment." On Wednesday, Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, the foreign ministry, lawmakers and other officials said Israel and the United States were behind the car-bomb attack. Israeli officials have largely remained silent, although military spokesman Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai said on his official Facebook page that, while he was unaware who carried out the killing, "I am definitely not shedding a tear."
Israeli media highlighted comments by Israel's military chief of staff, Lieutenant General Benny Gantz, saying the day before the attack that 2012 would be a critical year for Iran, in part because of "things which happen to them (the Iranians) in an unnatural way." US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday "categorically" denied any US involvement in the bombing.
Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards, however, were adamant that "the terrorist actions against our nuclear scientists and experts is a US-Zionist plot." The Revolutionary Guards have announced fresh navy manoeuvres in the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf within the next few weeks, to underline Iran's threat to close the narrow channel — a chokepoint for a fifth of the world's oil — if an attack or heavy sanctions are imposed. Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani on Thursday held talks on Tehran's controversial nuclear programme with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, a Turkish diplomatic source said.
The United States won key support from Japan on Thursday for tough oil sanctions against Iran over a nuclear programme that the West suspects is geared to developing atomic bombs.
Japan pledged to take concrete action to cut Iranian oil imports after visiting US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urged Tokyo, a major importer, to help deprive Iran of vital oil revenues. In Iran, sanctions are biting, with the rial currency losing 20 percent of value against the dollar in the past week.
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