Assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists

Between 2010 and 2012, four Iranian nuclear scientists (Masoud Ali-Mohammadi, Majid Shahriari, Darioush Rezaeinejad, and Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan) were killed in foreign-linked assassinations. Rezaeinejad was shot dead by gunmen on motorcycles, while Shahriari and Ahmadi Roshan were killed by explosives attached to their cars. Fereydoon Abbasi was also targeted in a car bombing, but survived.

The Iranian government accused Israel of complicity in the killings in order to disrupt Iran's nuclear program. In 2011 and 2012, Iranian authorities arrested a number of Iranians alleged to have carried out the assassination campaign on behalf of Mossad (the Israeli intelligence service). Western intelligence services and U.S. officials reportedly confirmed the Israeli connection. Israeli defense minister Moshe Ya'alon said: "We will act in any way and are not willing to tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran. We prefer that this be done by means of sanctions, but in the end, Israel should be able to defend itself."

The assassination campaign was reportedly terminated in 2013 following diplomatic pressure from the United States, which was attempting to negotiate restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities. According to NBC, two US senior officials confirmed that the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) was "financed, trained, and armed by Israel" in killing Iranian nuclear scientists, although a Senior State Department Official later denied saying the MEK was not involved in the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists.