Israel Matzav

Dead nuclear scientist headed Iran's response team to Stuxnet

Take this with a grain of salt, because it's sole-sourced from DEBKA (they're the origin of everyone else who has picked this up), but the Iranian nuclear scientist who was killed by a car bomb on Monday was heading up his country's response team to the Stuxnet worm.

Prof. Majid Shahriari, who died when his car was attacked in North Tehran Monday, Nov. 29, headed the team Iran established for combating the Stuxnet virus rampaging through its nuclear and military networks. His wife was injured. The scientist's death deals a major blow to Iran's herculean efforts to purge its nuclear and military control systems of the destructive worm since it went on the offensive six months ago. Only this month, Stuxnet shut down nuclear enrichment at Natanz for six days from Nov. 16-22 and curtailed an important air defense exercise.

Prof. Shahriari was the Iranian nuclear program's top expert on computer codes and cyber war.

Another Iranian nuclear scientist, Prof. Feredoun Abbassi-Davani, and his wife survived a second coordinated attack with serious injuries. He is Dean of Students at the Beheshit Basijj Forces University , a key political appointment. ...

And by the way, the scientists may not have only been hit by bombs.

Tehran's official account of the attacks is only half-correct, are sources report. There were indeed two motorcycle teams of two riders each who shadowed the scientists' vehicles on their way to their laboratories and offices at Beheshti University in North Teheran early Monday. It was initially reported that the motorcyclists sped past them, attached explosives to the targeted Peugeots and were gone before they exploded.

However, the first photos of the scientists' vehicles showed them to be riddled with bullet holes rather than explosive damage, meaning they were hit by drive-by shooters.

It is important to note that the attacks took place in the most secure district of Tehran, where the top-secret labs serving Iran's nuclear facilities are located. They must therefore have been set up after exhaustive and detailed surveillance.

Hmmm.

Labels: drive-by killing, Iranian nuclear program

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:28 AM