By William Tucker

Last fall when I gave the webcast A Nuclear Middle East, I stated that one of the most visible aspects of the intelligence war being fought in the region was the assassination of scientists involved in the Iranian nuclear program. News from of official Iranian media outlets indicate that another scientist was killed this Monday, although his link to the nuclear program is a bit mysterious. Early reports out of Iran stated that the scientist, Dariush Rezaie-Nejad, was working for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, but later reports removed the reference. A later report by the Fars news agency stated it had made an error by claiming Rezaei-Nejad’s specialty was nuclear related, and instead claimed he worked for the defense ministry. Another media report suggested that the victim was an “electronics master’s student” at Tehran’s Khajeh Nassir University.

The changing stories in the government run media could be taken as confirmation that Rezaie-Nejad was working on the nuclear program, or at least something sensitive. That may not necessarily be the case, however. The assassination was carried out by two motorcyclists, a time tested tactic that has been used in Iran before. In this instance the investigators have stated that they have not found a link to a foreign intelligence service which wouldn’t be surprise if this was carried out by a professional group. Equally possible, is that a foreign intelligence service wasn’t involved at all. In essence, what has been reported, although suspicious, is entirely speculative. Over the next few weeks details of the killing will begin to emerge, as they usually do, and then a more accurate picture of Rezaie-Nejad will become available for analysis.