MYSTERY IN TEHRAN – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  There has been a mysterious murder in Tehran, as The New York Times reports:

PARIS — A remote-controlled bomb attached to a motorcycle killed an Iranian professor of nuclear physics outside his home in northern Tehran on Tuesday, state media reported, blaming the United States and Israel.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. One state broadcaster, IRIB, quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying that “in the initial investigation, signs of the triangle of wickedness by the Zionist regime, America and their hired agents are visible in the terrorist act,” Reuters reported.

The authorities called the killing of the scientist, Massoud Ali Mohammadi, an assassination carried out by terrorists but did not say who was believed to be responsible. The professor taught neutron physics at Tehran University, the English-language Press TV said, but it was not clear whether he was part of Iran’s contentious nuclear enrichment program.

The motive for the attack is shrouded in mystery.  On the one hand, government radio labeled the professor a "staunch support of the Islamic revolution."  On the other hand, news reports say he was a support of the main opposition (reform) candidate in the recent presidential "election."

There is some speculation that the regime murdered the professor but will blame the opposition movement, giving Tehran an excuse to crack down even more.

Stand by.  There'll be more on this.

January 12, 2010