'Israel did not kill my brother, Iran's Revolutionary Guard did'

The mysterious deaths in 2007 of a group of Iranian scientists, who allegedly had ties to the Islamic republic's nuclear weapons program, immediately led to a wide range of conspiracy theories pointing suspicion at Israel. Now, as first told to Felice Friedson of The Media Line news Agency, the identity of the assassins appears to be completely different.

Mahboobeh Hosseinpour, the sister of Iranian nuclear physicist Ardeshir Hosseinpour, who was allegedly "gassed" to death in 2007, claims he was murdered by Iran's Revolutionary Guard because he would not cooperate with its efforts to build an atomic bomb.

According to The Media Line, if Hosseinpour's account can be confirmed, it could affect the next round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the West.

The interview with Hosseinpour, 54, who currently resides in Turkey, was arranged by the Iranian opposition group New Iran. Hosseinpour told the The Media Line that she learned of her brother's secret research through her sister-in-law, Sara Araghi.

After his death, Araghi reportedly went to her husband's office at Shiraz University and removed the DVD from its hiding place. According to the account retold by The Media Line, she also found evidence the room had been searched and that items were missing, including a photo of Hosseinpour with then-Iranian President Mohammed Khatami. The DVD was reportedly later stolen.

This research was stored on a DVD and contained formulae for building an atomic bomb 12 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, along with methods for neutralizing it.

Mahboobeh Hosseinpour told The Media Line that in November 2004 her brother was contacted by three special agents working for the defense department of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, who gave him a personal message from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, enlisting him to work on increasing uranium enrichment capabilities in order to build atomic weapons.

The nuclear physicist, according to the report, was also asked to work with Russian and North Korean scientists to accelerate the project.

In return, "he was offered a two-star rank in the Revolutionary Guard and ownership of factories," the sister said.

Hosseinpour's claim that the Revolutionary Guard, not Israel, killed her brother, are supported by Alireza Nourizadeh, an Iranian journalist who says she had been in contact with Dr. Hosseinpour.

This included an "email communication he had with me about the sensitivities of his work. [Revolutionary Guard agents] were aware of it, even if they did not have the content."

Hosseinpour's mother, who died in 2011, was also warned to be careful, according to the report. She was told that Khamenei issued a fatwa (religious decree) ordering scientists to work on enriching uranium to 20 percent for the benefit of the Islamic republic.

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