Israeli officials rejected on Sunday U.S. media reports indicating that Israel was behind the recent assassination of yet another Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran. "The reports in the newspapers and in the media are completely disconnected from reality," said Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yitzhak Ben-Israel to Army Radio Sunday, one day after Time Magazine reported that Israel's Mossad had carried out the assassination. On Friday, Time Magazine quoted "intelligence sources" as saying that "Wednesday's attack followed the pattern of previous operations planned by Mossad and carried out over the past two years by Iranians trained and paid by Israel's spy agency." According to Time Magazine, the Mossad was able to assassinate Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan thanks to information it received from Western intelligence sources. Time Magazine quoted a senior Israeli official who reportedly said with a smile: "Yes, another one," adding, "I don't feel sad for him." "The Iranians are getting closer to developing a nuclear bomb," Ben-Israel, the head of Israel's National Council for Research and Development, told Army Radio on Sunday. "The world is tense, and anything that can be interpreted as talk of an attack is interpreted as that." "Finally, the world is realizing that sanctions can't be effective on any level, and now we are considering more serious measures," he added. Last week, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed Israel for Roshan's death. However, over the weekend Iran claimed it had evidence that the U.S. was behind the assassination. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported on Saturday that Iran's Foreign Ministry had sent a diplomatic letter to the U.S. saying that it has "evidence and reliable information" that the CIA provided "guidance, support and planning" to assassins "directly involved" in Roshan's killing. The U.S. has denied any role in the assassination. Iran delivered the letter to the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which looks after U.S. interests in the country. Iran and the U.S. have not maintained any diplomatic relations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. IRNA also reported that Iran delivered a letter to Britain accusing London of having an "obvious role" in the killing. It said that a series of assassinations began after British intelligence chief John Sawers hinted in 2010 at intelligence operations against the Islamic Republic. President Shimon Peres was asked by CNN if Israel had anything to do with Roshan's death. "No, not to my knowledge," he said, "I know that's the latest fashion in Iran, to blame Israel and the U.S. for anything bad that happens in Iran. That's nothing new." Iranian military commander Gen. Masoud Jazayeri was quoted by Iran's semiofficial ISNA news agency Saturday as saying that Tehran was "reviewing the punishment" for anyone involved in the assassination. "Iran's response will be a tormenting one for supporters of state terrorism," he said, without elaborating. "The enemies of the Iranian nation, especially the United States, Britain and the Zionist regime [Israel] have to be held responsible for their activities." Jazayeri also accused the International Atomic Energy Agency of being partially to blame, saying that the U.N. nuclear watchdog had released a list of Iranian nuclear scientists and officials that "has provided the possibility of their identification and targeting by spy networks." Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Brig.-Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi, said over the weekend that Iran's enemies would not be able to stop its scientific progress. Meanwhile, according to a report this weekend in the U.S. magazine, Foreign Policy, a U.S. intelligence report from 2007 claims that Mossad agents posed as CIA officers in order to recruit Jundallah members to act against Iranian targets. Jundallah, also known as the People's Resistance Movement of Iran (PRMI), claims to be fighting for the rights of Sunni Muslims in Iran and is considered a terrorist organization by the Iranian regime. According to the report, even though the U.S. avoided all contact with the group, Israeli agents used U.S. passports in order to persuade Jundallah members that they were, in fact, CIA agents, and recruited them to act against targets in the Iranian regime. The Israeli activity, which reportedly took place mainly in London, was allegedly carried out "under the nose" of U.S. intelligence. An Israeli source over the weekend called the report "absolute nonsense." It is important to note that the author of the article is Mark Perry, an intelligence expert who for years functioned as late PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat's unofficial adviser.
Israeli officials reject report Mossad killed Iranian scientist
Time Magazine cites Western intelligence sources as saying Israel killed Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan last week • Iran blames U.S., Britain and Israel for assassination, threatens "tormenting" revenge.
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