Iran Threatens Retaliation for Assassination of Nuclear Scientists

Iran is preparing to retaliate against the west after an assassination of one of the country's nuclear scientists, Iranian media are reporting.

Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was killed when the car he was riding in was hit with a car bomb attached to the vehicle by a person on a motorcycle. Iran was quick to blame Israel or the United States, though the U.S. has vehemently denied any involvement. Roshan was a director at the Iran's nuclear enrichment laboratory…

…Vali Nasr, professor of international politics at Tufts University's Fletcher School, said the threat is serious.

"The Iranian government is under pressure from its own public to show that foreign powers cannot carry out acts of assassination on its own territory with impunity and at free-will," Nasr said. "I think Iran would like to send a signal to whoever is doing this not to carry out any further such attacks."

Any retaliation would probably also take the form of acts of terror, Nasr said. Iran has a history of doing just those sorts of things.

"Today, Iranians announced in one of their newspapers that the attacks would be outside of the region," he said.

That likely means an attack on either an Israeli or an American target, outside of the Middle East.

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