Car Bomb Kills Iranian Nuclear Scientist

Working in the Iranian nuclear weapons program has become a hazardous profession of late. The latest fatality was Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, deputy head of the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, killed today by a car bomb in Tehran.

Speculation runs rampant that the string of assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists is the work of the Mossad or CIA. In what I feel is a well-reasoned column, Shoshan Bryen at the Jewish Policy Center argues that such precisely targeted assassinations are morally preferable to both airstrikes and economic sanctions as a means of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

While I agree with Ms. Bryen's reasoning, I fear that such targeted assassinations alone will only slow down, but not prevent, Iranian nuclear weapons development. Therefore ultimately airstrikes by the United States and other Western nations may ultimately prove necessary. Indeed, former White House adviser Dennis Ross told Bloomberg in an interview Monday that no one should doubt President Obama's willingness to use military force to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.