Leader hails martyred Iranian scientists

Ayatollah Khamenei stated that Dr. Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, a former Tehran University lecturer, and Dr. Majid Shahriari, a former professor at the capital's Shahid Beheshti University, achieved “the highest level of spiritual values” by means of martyrdom, the Office of Iran's Islamic Revolution Leader said on its website on Monday.

The Leader, who was meeting with the bereaved families of the assassinated academics on Thursday, also noted that murder of the Iranian scientists indicated Iran's rise in scientific areas.

In January 2010, Ali-Mohammadi was killed by an explosive-laden motorbike in Tehran. The bombing took place in the early hours of the day near the professor's home in the capital's northern district of Qeytariyeh.

On November 29, 2010, unidentified terrorists detonated bombs attached to the vehicles of university professors Majid Shahriari and Fereydoun Abbasi. Professor Shahriari was killed immediately, but Dr. Abbasi and his wife survived the attack with minor injuries.

Iran says since Resolution 1747 -- adopted by the United Nations Security Council against the Islamic Republic in March 2007 -- cited Abbasi's name as a "nuclear scientist," the perpetrators behind the assassination could be traced via those who included the professor's name in the resolution.

On January 10, Iranian Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi said the Islamic Republic has dismantled an Israeli spy network and arrested the main perpetrators in connection with the assassination of Ali-Mohammadi.