Tehran has formed an elite security unit to protect nuclear scientists after failing to prevent the assassination of a high-level Stuxnet expert attempting to counter the voracious worm.
Indeed, as TG Daily previously reported, Prof. Majid Shahriari was killed in a drive-by shooting that also involved the planting and detonation of explosives by unknown operatives on speeding motorcycles.
According to DebkaFile, the new unit will be jointly administered by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry (MOIS) and the Quds Brigade (نیروی قدس) of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
Its task: To provide nuclear scientists and their families with the same level of security offered to high-ranking leaders of the Ahmadinejad regime.
“The decision to establish an [elite] unit with upgraded security arrangements for the nuclear program’s staff and their families was taken to halt [a] stampede for [the] exits,” explained DebkaFile analysts.
“[As such], until the new unit is in place, the details guarding government and military VIPs will stand guard over the program’s staff. [In addition], top scientists are to be provided with armored-plated vehicles [capable of] withstanding sticky bombs and RPGs.”
It should also be noted that Ali Akhbar Salehi – chairman of Iran’s Atomic Energy Comission – has confirmed that a massive security shakeup is ongoing.
“We [definitely] have been pursuing serious protective measures for hundreds of our scientists and experts since last year,” he said.
“And, based on [a] recent decision, we are to increase protective measures multi-fold and take other steps as well.”
