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Iran accuses West, Israel for assassinating nuclear scientist

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Iranian officials on Monday accused the West and Israel for assassination attempts on two Iranian nuclear scientists.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attends a press conference in Tehran, capital of Iran, Nov 29, 2010. Ahmadinejad said Monday that West and Israel were behind the terror attack on two Iranian scientists. [Ahmad Halabisaz/Xinhua]

In two separate terrorist acts in northern Tehran early Monday, Iranian nuclear scientist Dr. Majid Shahriari was killed and Dr. Fereidoon Abbasi was wounded when they were driving to work.

"Dr. Majid Shahriari was martyred and his wife was wounded and (in another attack) Dr. Fereidoon Abbasi and his wife were wounded, " according to the state IRIB TV.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the reporters in a press conference on Monday that "Western countries and Israeli regime are behind the terror attack on two Iranian university professors."

Ahmadinejad called on security officials to deal with the issue urgently to find out the perpetrators of the attacks.

Iranian Interior Minister on Monday accused the U.S. and Israeli intelligence services of assassinating its nuclear scientist. Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said that the CIA and Mossad have always been the enemies of Iran. "They want to block our nation's scientific progress," IRIB quoted Mohammad Najjar as saying.

The desperate and terrorist act of the enemies against the scientists on Monday are the embodiment of their weakness and inferiority, said the top security official.

Also the professors from Iran's Shahid Beheshti University, Dr. Shahriari and Dr. Abbasi were the members of Iran Nuclear Association.

Shahriari was also a member of the scientific board of Nuclear Engineering Faculty of Shahid Beheshti University, said the local mashreghnews website. Abbasi was a member of the scientific board and dean of Physics Faculty in Islamic Revolution Guards Corps ( IRCG)'s Imam Hossein University as well, said the website.

Shahriari had contributed to several projects out of which the theoretical design of constructing the new generation of nuclear reactors has gained reputation in the scientific circles of the world, said the website.

On Monday, head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali-Akbar Salehi warned of assassination attempts on the country's physicists, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The remarks came after Salehi visited Fereidoon Abbasi in the hospital. He advised the enemies of Iran not to play with fire and not to try the country's patience any more, according to IRNA.

The Zionist elements were suspected behind the attacks targeting the physicist professors of Tehran Shahid Beheshti University, said an IRIB report on Monday.

Talking to the reporters after the incidents, Tehran Police Chief Commander, Hossein Sajedi Nia, said that no suspects have been arrested so far and no group has claimed responsibility for the acts.

Both of the terrorist incidents were carried out by the motorcycle drivers who attached the bombs onto the cars and the cars exploded a few seconds later, Sajedi Nia was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency.

The wives of the two academics were the staff of Tehran Shahid Beheshti University too, according to the police chief.

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