Ardeshir Hosseinpour

Ardeshir Hosseinpour
Born 1962
Tehran
Died 15 January 2007 (aged 44-45)
Isfahan
Residence Isfahan
Nationality Iranian
Fields Electrical Physics and Engineering
Institutions Nuclear Technology Center of Iran
Shiraz University, Malek Ashtar University
Alma mater Shiraz University, Iran
Known for Nuclear program of Iran
Electromagnetism
Notable awards Khwarizmi International Award (2006)

Ardeshir Hosseinpour[1] (Persian: اردشير حسين پور‎‎, 1962 – 15 January 2007) was an Iranian junior scientist, assistant professor, and authority on electromagnetism.[2] He was also involved in the Iranian nuclear program.[2][3][4] Hosseinpour died mysteriously in early 2007 during his nuclear work at Isfahan.

Education and career

Hosseinpour held a B.S. degree in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. degree in electrical physics from Shiraz University in 2002.[5] He was an assistant materials science professor of Shiraz University, and also taught at the Malek Ashtar University of Technology in Isfahan.

In 2005, he co-founded[6] and continued his research at the Nuclear Technology Center of Isfahan.[3] He continued his research there until his death on 15 January 2007.

Cause of death

There are conflicting reports as to the cause of Hosseinpour's death. His death was not reported until six days after the event, first by the Al-Quds daily and the Iranian Students' News Agency. American Radio Farda (broadcasting in Persian) originally reported that he died due to "gassing".[7]

The United States private intelligence company Stratfor released a report on 2 February 2007 which claimed that "Hosseinpour was in fact a Mossad target" based on "sources close to Israeli intelligence."[4][6] Stratfor also reported that the cause of death was "radioactive poisoning."[2] The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that a "website of expatriate Iranian communists" had claimed that several other scientists were killed or injured in the same incident, and treated in nearby hospitals.[2]

Stratfor added that:

"Decapitating a hostile nuclear program by taking out key human assets is a tactic that has proven its effectiveness over the years, particularly in the case of Iraq. In the months leading up to the 1981 Israeli airstrike on Iraq's Osirak reactor -- which was believed to be on the verge of producing plutonium for a weapons program -- at least three Iraqi nuclear scientists died under mysterious circumstances."[6]

"[6][8] FOX reports: He worked at a plant in Isfahan where uranium hexafluoride gas is produced. The gas is needed to enrich uranium in another plant at Natanz which has become the focus of concerns that Iran may be developing nuclear weapons.

Despite these reports, the "semi-official"[9] Fars News Agency reported that an unnamed informed source in Tehran told them that Hosseinpour was not involved in the nuclear facility at Isfahan, and that he "suffocated by fumes from a faulty gas fire in sleep."[10] The report of an assassination was also denied by Gholamreza Aghazadeh, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, who said that Iranian nuclear experts "are sound and safe."[11] Mossad sources, including Meir Amit, the former head of the agency, also told the San Francisco Chronicle that the claim of assassination is "baseless" and "goes against all known modus operandi of the agency."[12]

According to an investigative work by an Italian journalist, Ardeshir Hosseinpour sympathised with Khatami.[13]

Ardeshir's sister, Mahboobeh Hosseinpour, has claimed that her brother had been murdered by Iran's Revolutionary Guards rather than by Israel.[14]

Awards

Publications

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Alternatively English transliterations of the Persian name are: Ardshir or Adreshire and Hassanpour or Hossein-pour
  2. 1 2 3 4 Melman, Yossi (4 February 2007). "U.S. website: Mossad killed Iranian nuclear physicist". Haaretz. Retrieved 5 February 2007.
  3. 1 2 "IRAN: NUCLEAR SCIENTIST DIES UNDER MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES". Adnkronos International (AKI). 25 January 2007. Retrieved 5 February 2007.
  4. 1 2 Baxter, Sarah (2007-02-04). "Iranian nuclear scientist 'assassinated by Mossad'". London: The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2007-02-05. (refers to interview of Stratfor's Rheva Bhalla)
  5. ↑ الکتروديناميک يون هاي مغناطيسي در ابرشبکه ها, /اردشير حسين پور (in Persian). IRANDOC Open Databases. 4 January 2006. Archived from the original (XML) on 8 February 2007. Retrieved 5 February 2007.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Geopolitical Diary: Israeli Covert Operations in Iran". Stratfor. 2 February 2007. Retrieved 4 February 2007.(requires premium subscription)
  7. ↑ "مرگ مشکوک يک دانشمند هسته ای جمهوری اسلام (Scientist Nuk Dies)" (in Persian). Radio Farda. Retrieved 2007-02-04.
  8. ↑ https://www.stratfor.com/geopolitical-diary/geopolitical-diary-israeli-covert-operations-iran. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. ↑ "U.S. troops allowed to kill Iranians plotting attacks in Iraq". CNN. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
  10. ↑ "Moussad Incapable of Running Operations in Iran". Fars News Agency. 2007-02-04. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
  11. ↑ "Tehran denies reports on scientist's "assassination"". Xinhua News Agency. 2007-02-05. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
  12. ↑ Kalman, Matthew (2007-02-18). "Israel tense over 'the Iranian threat'". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2007-02-18.
  13. ↑ Maurizi, Stefania (31 August 2007). "Il mistero della morte di mio marito che lavorava al nucleare iraniano" (in Italian). Il Venerdì of La Repubblica. Archived from the original on 22 August 2011. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  14. ↑ Felice Friedson, The Media Line (30 September 2014). "Israel didn't assassinate Iranian physicist in 2007 — Revolutionary Guard did, sister says". National Post.
  15. ↑ "شخصیت نگار". shakhsiatnegar.com.

External links

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