Iran: Mossad had role in assassination

TEHRAN, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- A suspect in the 2010 killing of an Iranian nuclear physicist told a court in Tehran he received support from Israeli intelligence, state media claims.

Massoud Ali Mohammadi, an Iranian physics professor at Tehran University, was killed when a bomb denoted in front of his home as he left for work in January 2010. Tehran one year later said it found evidence that Mossad, the Israeli spy agency, was operating a spy ring in the country.

Ali Jamali Fashi, on trial in Tehran for his alleged role in the assassination, told the court he received around $120,000 from the Israelis for his role in the Mohammadi assassination.

He told court authorities that he made several visits to Turkey to coordinate the assassination with Israelis.

"I met one of the Israeli intelligence agents for the first time in the Turkish city of Antalya," he was quoted by Iran's state-funded news agency Press TV as saying. "A high-ranking Mossad official had also met with me two times in Azerbaijan and briefed me on the stages of my trip to Israel."

The Iranian Intelligence Ministry in January added that it uncovered "very important and sensitive" information about Mossad activity in Europe that was connected to work in the Islamic republic.