An Informal Addition to the Laws of Physics – Don’t Work for Iran
13th January 2012
Physics is an unhealthy line of work in today’s Iran. A few days ago, 32-year-old Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan died in his car, after two motorcyclists attached a magnetic shaped charge to the door. You can see Roshan among the men in white coats, beaming modestly behind President Ahmadinejad, in a photo taken a few months ago.
Roshan was not the first and nor will he be the last casualty of a covert war designed either to dissuade Iran from acquiring a bomb, or to prompt retaliatory mis-steps that will trigger an all-out onslaught by Israel or the US against multiple Iranian nuclear facilities.
And, let me tell you, my heart breaks for them.
The Israelis believe that anyone who knowingly participates in developing weapons of mass destruction or terrorism should be aware that these are not risk-free activities. Iranian scientists know full well that electronic switches are used in nuclear triggers, and that enriching uranium beyond a certain percentage is not for the production of medical isotopes. And they accept the considerable financial rewards involved. If there are questions about the morality of killing such men, there are questions about the morality of their work in the first place.
Indeed.