The families of several slain Iranian nuclear scientists filed a lawsuit accusing Israel, the U.S. and Britain of being involved in their assassinations.
“Through this complaint, we declare to the world that actions of arrogant governments, led by the U.S., Britain and the occupying Zionist regime, in assassinating nuclear scientists and elites is against human principles,” Mansoureh Karami, the wife of slain Tehran University physics professor Masoud Ali Mohammadi, said at a news conference Wednesday in Tehran, according to The Associated Press.
Mohammadi is one of five Iranian nuclear scientists who have been killed since 2010, and Iran repeatedly has blamed Israel’s Mossad intelligency agency as well as the CIA and Britain’s MI6 for the assassinations, with support from some of Iran’s neighbors. The U.S. and Britain have denied involvement in the slayings. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
In May, Iran executed 24-year-old Majid Jamali Fashi for the assassination of Mohammadi and spying for Israel. Mohammadi was killed by a remote-controlled bomb in January 2010.
In April, more than 15 Iranian and foreign nationals reportedly were arrested for carrying out alleged terrorist missions for Israel in Iran, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran’s official news service. The group was accused of spying for Israel, the attempted assassination of an Iranian expert and sabotage.
The state-backed Fars news agency said the lawsuit stressed that the deaths of the scientists would not undermine Iran’s progress because Iranian youths will double their efforts to make more achievements in scientific and technological fields.
Western powers accuse Iran of trying to build nuclear weapons, while Iran says it is attempting to build reactors for peaceful purposes such as power and medical isotopes.
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