Iran says it halted scientist death plots

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TEHRAN, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Iran foiled some assassination plots against its nuclear scientists, the head of the country's Atomic Energy Organization said.

"At present the military and intelligence forces are doing their duty and they have discovered some assassination plots," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Fereidoun Abbasi as saying Sunday in Tehran.

Abbasi did not elaborate other than saying assassination attempts against the country's nuclear scientists were in addition to the reported deaths of some scientists:

-- Thirty-two-year-old scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan and his driver were killed in January 2012.

-- Dariush Rezaeinejad was killed in July 2011.

-- Massoud Ali Mohammadi, a university professor, was killed by a bomb in January 2010.

-- In 2010, Abbasi escaped a bomb attack that killed his colleague, Majid Shahriari.