Sarah Baxter
London
Times
Sunday, February 4, 2007
A PRIZE-WINNING Iranian nuclear scientist has died in mysterious
circumstances, according to Radio Farda, which is funded by the
US State Department and broadcasts to Iran.
An intelligence source suggested that Ardeshire Hassanpour, 44,
a nuclear physicist, had been assassinated by Mossad, the Israeli
security service.
Hassanpour worked at a plant in Isfahan where uranium hexafluoride
gas is produced. The gas is needed to enrich uranium in another
plant at Natanz which has become the focus of concerns that Iran
may be developing nuclear weapons.
According to Radio Farda, Iranian reports of Hassanpour’s
death emerged on January 21 after a delay of six days, giving
the cause as “gas poisoning”. The Iranian reports
did not say how or where Hassanpour was poisoned but his death
was said to have been announced at a conference on nuclear safety.
Rheva Bhalla of Stratfor, the US intelligence company, claimed
on Friday that Hassanpour had been targeted by Mossad and that
there was “very strong intelligence” to suggest that
he had been assassinated by the Israelis, who have repeatedly
threatened to prevent Iran acquiring the bomb.
Hassanpour won Iran’s leading military research prize in
2004 and was awarded top prize at the Kharazmi international science
festival in Iran last year.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to announce next Sunday
— the 28th anniversary of the Islamic revolution —
that 3,000 centrifuges have been installed at Natanz, enabling
Iran to move closer to industrial scale uranium enrichment.
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency say that
hundreds of technicians and labourers have been “working
feverishly” to assemble equipment at the plant.
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