An Iranian news agency reports that another of its nuclear scientists were assassinated in the capital of Tehran. The name of the physicist was Daryoush Rezaei. Reports indicate that he was shot by an assailant on a motorbike right outside of his home. His wife has been wounded in the attack. Last year, one nuclear scienticist was killed and another nearly-murdered in separate attacks involving motorcyclists in the Iranian capital.
The latest attack comes days after Iran announces new and better centrifuges would be installed to speed up their nuclear program, which they insist is solely for civilian purposes despite much skepticism.
The survivor of one of last year's assassination attempts is currently leading the Iranian effort to develop nuclear technology. Profiled by the New York Times, Fereydoon Abbasi is said to focus on nuclear weaponry. It's not clear where Daryoush Rezaei fitted into the Iranian nuclear program or who exactly was behind the latest assassination attempt against an Iranian nuclear expert.
Sanctions have been amongst the tools to weaken Iran's nuclear program which many fear and suspect is really designed to produce nuclear weaponry. The infamous Stuxnet virus has also been deployed, allegedly by either the U.S. and/or Israel.
However, perhaps the greatest danger to Iran's nuclear program is the same danger facing the UnIslamic NonRepublic of Iran; social upheavel. Like with Syria in Daraa, a spark in Iran could trigger the kinds of protests that have rocked much of the Middle East. Iran did, after all, already experience remarkable protests that came over a year before a young man in Tunisia lit himself on fire; the spark which really began the Arab Spring. The difference between Iran after the disputed election of Ahmadinejad and Iran now is that Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Leader Khamanei appear to be at odds with one another. One can't help but wonder how assassinations may bring Ahmadinejad and Khamanei close together again.