A week after Masoud Ali Mohammadi's death, it remains unclear why the 50-year-old Tehran University professor would have been a target for assassins who left a bomb-rigged motorcycle outside his home on January 12. Ali Mohammadi had no prominent political voice, no published work with military relevance and no declared links to Iran's nuclear program, though his work included some aspects of nuclear theory.
``Rest assured that Iran will take revenge for the blood of martyr Ali Mohammadi from you,' Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said, addressing Israel and the US. ``Such a blind move, which is the result of acts by the Mossad, the CIA and enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran's system, shows their weakness,' Najjar said. His comments were reported by the official IRNA news agency. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has described the assassination as having been carried out in a ``Zionist style,' saying it showed their ``grudge' against the Iranian nation.
Key figures among both Iran's pro-reform opposition and hard-line government supporters have condemned the professor's killing. Ali Mohammadi had few apparent links outside the academic community. He was not known to have any key roles in the opposition movement, although his name appeared on a university petition pledging support for pro-reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi before June's disputed presidential election.