Bomb kills official at Iran nuke facility

進入英語學習論壇下載音頻

Two assailants on a motorcycle attached magnetic bombs on Wednesday to the car of an Iranian university professor working at a key nuclear facility, killing him and wounding two others, Iran's Fars News Agency reported.

The attack in Teheran strongly resembles earlier killings of scientists working on the country's controversial nuclear program.

The bomb explosion killed Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a chemistry expert and a director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, the Fars News Agency reported.

The killing of Roshan was similar to previous assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists that Teheran has blamed on Israel and the United States. Both countries have denied the accusations.

Iran's First Vice-President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi said Israeli agents were the perpetrators of Wednesday's assassination of the Iranian nuclear staff, the official IRNA News Agency reported.

Iranian media reported earlier that Ahmadi Roshan, an Iranian national, was killed in a car bomb attack in Gol Nabi Street near the Ketabi square in northern Teheran.

The attacks on Iranian scientists were viewed by Iranian officials as assassination operations carried out by Israel's Mossad intelligence service, possibly with help from US counterparts.

Wednesday's killing sharpened an international confrontation over Iran's nuclear program in which threats and counter-threats are being increasingly backed with militarized displays of muscle.

Western nations, the United States in the fore, are steadily ratcheting up sanctions on Iran with the aim of fracturing its oil-dependent economy.

Iran has responded by saying it could easily close the Strait of Hormuz - a chokepoint for 20 percent of the world's oil at the entrance to the Gulf - if it is attacked or the sanctions halt its petroleum exports.

Questions:

1. The attack killed one, how many people were wounded?

2. Who does Iran believe possibly carried out the attack?

3. What has Iran threatened to close?

Answers:

1. Two

2. Israel's Mossad intelligence service

3. Strait of Hormuz

（中國日報網英語點津 Rosy 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.