An Iranian physicist was shot dead by a motorcyclist in Tehran on Saturday and Iran's student news agency ISNA quoted an unnamed police official as saying he was a nuclear scientist. ISNA named the scientist as Darioush Rezaie, 35, a university teacher who held a PhD in physics. "An Iranian nuclear scientist was assassinated in front of his house today ... and his wife was also wounded," it said. "He was shot dead by a motorcyclist."
However, deputy Interior Minister Safarali Baratlou said it was not clear whether Rezaie was one of Iran's nuclear scientists, Iran's Labour News Agency ILNA reported. "Police investigations are continuing ... Nobody has been arrested so far," Baratlou told ILNA.
Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency, quoting an unnamed police source, said police were investigating the assassination which took place in eastern Tehran. Last year, an Iranian scientist was killed and another was wounded in Tehran. In the past few months, the Islamic Republic has arrested a number of alleged "nuclear spies", warning citizens against leaking information to foreign secret services. Iran is at odds with the United States and its allies over its nuclear work, which the West says is a cover to build bombs. Iran denies the allegations.