U.S. declines to respond to Iranian charge on scientist

Wasif Chudhary
The State Department declined to respond to Iran's blaming U.S. or Israeli agents for the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist on Wednesday, saying it condemned any attack on an innocent person.

"We condemn any assassination or attack on an innocent person and we express our sympathies to the family," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters at a her daily briefing.

Asked if there was any truth to the Iranian charges of Israeli or U.S. responsibility, she replied: "I don't have any information to share one way or the other on that."

The fifth daylight attack on technical experts in two years, the killer's magnetic bomb delivered a targeted blast to the door of 32-year-old Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan's silver sedan as he drove down a Tehran street. The chemical engineer's passenger also died, Iranian media said, and a passer-by was hurt.

Asked why the State Department did not wish to explicitly deny responsibility for the killing, Nuland replied: "I don't think this department has any information further to what I have already said, which is that we condemn the loss of innocent life."