Iran University professor assassinated in Tehran, as Iran accuses US, Israel of involvement

An Iranian professor was assassinated outside his home in Tehran Saturday, reports in the Iranian media said, as Iranian officials blamed the attack on Israeli secret service Mossad.

Iranian University professor Daryoush Rezaienejad and his wife were on their way to their child's kindergarten when they were approached by two men on motorbikes. The gunmen called him by name and shot Rezaeinejad, 35, in the neck when he turned around. His wife was also wounded and was rushed to hospital.

Initially, local Iranian media had reported that Daryoush Rezaienejad was a nuclear physicist. The confusion was apparently cause by the similarity between his name and that of nuclear physicist Daryoush Rezaei.

On November 29, 2010, two other Iranian academics became the target of terrorist attacks. Unidentified terrorists detonated bombs in the vehicles of Dr. Majid Shahriari and Professor Fereydoun Abbasi in separate locations in Tehran. Shahriari was killed immediately but Abbasi and his wife sustained injuries. On December 2, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry announced that Mossad, CIA and MI6 spy agencies played a role in those attacks.

Meanwhile, Iran's Majlis (parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani condemned the assassination of the Iranian university professor and pointed finger at the Israeli enemy.

"Yesterday's US-Zionist terrorist act that targeted one of the elites of Iran is another instance demonstrating the US's hostility toward Iran," IRNA news agency quoted Larijani as saying on Sunday.  "Thus, the United States regards as allowable such acts in its sham global management," he added.

The Iranian Majlis speaker also called on Iran's security forces to respond to terrorists with "stronger will."  He also noted that the US has resorted to terrorist acts because of failing in its adventures in the region.