A Sunday Times report revealed Monday that Mossad agents were behind last week’s assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist.
According to the report, the assassination of Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan was similar to that seen in “espionage films” - planned over a period of many months, and including extensive surveillance and intelligence gathering. The Sunday Times quoted an unnamed Israeli sources who claimed that the killing was a precursor to a military strike, which would make rebuilding nuclear facilities more difficult for Iran, should they be bombed.
The report further claimed that small groups of Israeli Mossad agents had carefully observed key areas in Tehran deemed relevant to the Roshan’ assassination.
"There is zero tolerance for mistakes. By nature, every failure not only risks the neck of the agents but also risks turning into an international scandal,” said the Israeli source.
According to the Sunday Times, Roshan, 32, was monitored from a makeshift control room in a safe house nearby as he was preparing to leave for work. Israeli agents were also watching the entrance to Iranian intelligence headquarters in the city center, when they noticed a number of cars and people running, followed by police rushing into the nearby streets. Another agent monitoring radio traffic between the Tehran police and security forces confirmed unusual activity, said the paper.
The report states that as Roshan’s bodyguard was driving him to Natanz uranium enrichment site, where he served as director, a masked person on a motorbike weaved through traffic, planting a bomb on the car shaped to deliver its full force at the passenger.
The Sunday Times report stated that hundreds of regime supporters swore revenge at Roshan’s funeral on Friday. "Two targets were always in Mustafa's mind," Reza Najafi, a friend, said. "To fight Israel and to become a shaheed (martyr). He achieved both his targets."
The United States ruled out any connection with the assassination. "We were not involved in any way with regards to the assassination that took place there," said Secretarty of Defense Leon Panetta, although he did hint that he had "some idea" of who was.
According to the report, the British Foreign Office also said Britain had "no involvement whatsoever" in the attack.