Iran has just vowed revenge on the U.S. and Israel for the killing of a scientist.

That word! My first inkling was to write about how this reinforces the way that Iran looks at the world- that everyone is out to get them and that the way to respond to any slight, be it to their nuclear program or to someone educated from their country, by vowing violence… but then I thought about how many different countries do the same thing. The U.S. does stuff like this all the time and we just call it defending ourselves- doing what we have to do.

Iran is accusing the U.S. and Israel of being responsible for a bombing in Tehran that killed Professor Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, an Iranian scientist. The U.S. has said that the charges are “absurd” according to Reuters.

"The enemies and the Zionist regime (of Israel) should know that ultimately we will give a response to this act. Be sure that Iran will take revenge on you for the blood of martyr Massoud Ali-Mohammadi," said Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar, according to the official IRNA news agency.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, described the assassination as being carried out in "Zionist style."

So there are a few ways to think about this:

1. The U.S. and/ or Israel set up a bomb in a covert operation to kill a dangerous scientist in Iran who was presumably working on some kind of nuclear program.

“Such a blind act, created by Mossad, the CIA and enemies of the Islamic Republic, shows their weakness," Mohammad-Najjar, clearly considering the matter of fault to be a foregone conclusion.

But… While describing Ali-Mohammadi as a nuclear scientist, he is not listed as working for Iran’s controversial Atomic Energy Organization.

1. This leads to speculation that the killing was in fact carried out by the Iranian government themselves or some sort of government-backed group working for the government or with their consent. If that is the case and it is proven, this will prove disastrous for the Iranian government in any future negotiations or attempts at diplomacy, as it would basically expose them as terrorists and sully their reputation as a legitimate governing body- willing to kill someone to keep their message going.
2. It could be an unrelated third party- a group with Iranian government sympathies that acted on its own and is not affiliated or specifically endorsed by either side. It is unlikely that it would be a third-party group acting in the interests of America or Israel, as…

Reuters says that “state media described Ali-Mohammadi as a ‘committed and revolutionary’ professor, suggesting he backed the government.”

Iran administration opposition websites say the scientist supported Mirhossein Mousavi, the opposition leader in last summer’s election, that was surrounded by a significant amount of corruption accusations and turmoil.

So what happened? We may never know- but it is certain that Iran will blame the U.S. and Israel and the U.S. will deny it. Whether we decide to point the finger at Iran or not remains to be seen.

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