Tehran: Iran said the victim of a deadly shooting on Saturday was a
university student — not a physicist involved in the disputed nuclear
program, as state media first reported.
A mix-up over the victim’s name apparently led to the confusion, the English-language Press TV said.
Initial reports said a pair of gunmen firing from motorcycles killed
35-year-old Darioush Rezaei, a physics professor whose area of expertise
was neutron transport. Several news reports, including by the
semi-official ISNA news agency, linked him to the country’s nuclear
program.
But an investigation later determined the slain man was Darioush
Rezaeinejad, an electronics student at Khajeh Nasir University in
Tehran.
The initial reports raised concerns because the attack appeared similar
to other recent assassinations of scientists that Tehran blamed on the
US and Israel.
The US and Israel and some of their allies accuse Iran of seeking to
develop a nuclear weapons capability under the cover of its civilian
atomic energy program.
Iran’s missile program and its launch of satellites have raised fears it
is also marching toward a capability to deliver a nuclear warhead
across continents.
Iran denies the accusations and says its atomic program has entirely peaceful aims.
Despite the UN and other sanctions, Iran has steadi…
