Israeli State Sponsored Terrorism
On January 11, 2012, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, an Iranian nuclear scientist was killed in a blast in Tehran. Two assassins on a motorcycle were seen placing a bomb on his vehicle. Ahmadi Roshan was the latest victim in the series of attacks against scientists working with the Iranian nuclear program. Since 2010, two other scientists have been killed and one was wounded. In all these terrorist attacks the same method was applied, a small magnetic bomb was attached to the vehicle causing explosion inside the vehicle but leaving the nearby area almost unaffected.
Iranian authorities investigating the terrorist acts argue that the type of the bomb and the method of its use are so complex that these attacks could not have been taken place without the help of foreign intelligent services. They have pointed their fingers at American, British and Israeli spy agencies.
Last week, two U.S. officials told NBC, an American television network that attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists are being carried out by the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMI), an Iranian terrorist group that is financed, trained and armed by MOSSAD, the Israeli secret service. The news did not come as a surprise to Iran because it has for some time asserted that PMI receives training as well as logistical and financial supports from Israel.
As expected, the U.S. government has denied any involvement in the killings. Immediately after the assassination of Ahmadi Roshan, Secretary Clinton said, “I want to categorically deny any U.S. involvement in any kind of violence inside Iran. NBC News reported that U.S. official has said that the Obama administration is aware of the assassination campaign but has no direct involvement. However, the officials did not reveal the extent of their knowledge of the terrorist attacks against Iranian scientists. A few questions are in order here. Has the U.S. government shared intelligence with Israelis on the assassination plots? Has the U.S. been aware of the close affinity between Israel and PMI in general and on the killing cases in particular? And most importantly, was the U.S. aware of the assassinations before they were taken place? And if yes, why has it not taken any step to prevent the occurrence of such a crime?
PMI has been responsible for terrorist activities in Iran since the early years of the 1979 revolution. It had extensive cooperation with Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war in the 80’s. Now the Israelis have replaced Saddam in providing all kinds of supports to this organization to commit terrorist activities inside Iran,
While the European countries have unlisted PMI from their terrorist list, the U.S. administration is under pressure from PMI-sponsored lobby groups including a group of former U.S. officials to do the same. PMI is spending lots of money for that purpose.
The officials in Washington and European capitals should bear in mind that support for terrorism will not bear fruit and will be detrimental to all. Israeli terrorist activities in the occupied territories as well as in other countries should not be condoned. If they choose to close their eyes on these heinous crimes, they also will be responsible for promoting international terrorism.