Iranian nuclear scientist Dariush Rezaei was shot dead on Saturday when unknown assailants riding a motorcycle targeted him in the capital Tehran, local media reported.
“A physics professor and nuclear scientist was assassinated a few hours ago in front of his house in Tehran,” Mehr news agency reported at 1430 GMT. The ISNA news agency identified the scientist as Dariush Rezaei, 35, an expert with links to the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI). Mehr said his wife was also wounded in the shooting and rushed to hospital.
According to the agency, Rezaei studied nuclear engineering in Tehran’s Amir Kabir University and did research for the AEOI. Several Iranian nuclear scientists have been murdered in recent years in attacks the Islamic republic has blamed on the United States and Israel, which suspect Iran’s atomic programme masks a drive for a weapons capability.