Massoud Ali-Mohammadi

He was a quantum field theorist with interests in such diverse fields as Condensed matter physics (Quantum Hall effect in curved geometries), cosmology (modified gravity, dark energy, etc.) and string theory. Quantum field theory is a subject matter quite distinct from nuclear physics, nuclear engineering in general, and nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Iran's Atomic Energy Agency has in an official statement rejected media reports that Alimohammadi was associated with Iran's nuclear program. However, in an interview published in the Christian Science Monitor in July 2014, his widow Mansoureh Karami spoke of his "top secret nuclear work".

Twenty-four-year-old Majid Jamali Fashi was arrested days after the killing, and in January 2011, Iranian state television aired a confession by Fashi to having killed Alimohammadi on behalf of Mossad. Fashi's arrest may have come as a result of a September 2009 WikiLeaks diplomatic cable from the US Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan. The cable quoted an Iranian source who was a licensed martial arts coach who was in contact with the Americans. Fashi was reportedly in Baku to participate in an international martial arts competition days before the cable was written. On 28 August 2011, Fashi was convicted and sentenced to death by the Islamic Revolutionary Court. He was hanged on 15 May 2012 at Tehran's Evin Prison.

On 12 January 2010, at 07:58 am, a motorbike rigged with explosives and parked near his car exploded while he was leaving home in Gheytariyeh neighbourhood of northern Tehran, for university. The windows of residences around the scientist's home were shattered by the force of remote controlled explosion, and it was reported that two other people were also injured in the blast.

On 25 January 2010, Iran summoned the Swiss ambassador to Iran, who is representing the interests of United States in Iran, demanding the extradition of individuals associated with U.S. based Tondar group, whom Iran believes are behind the bombing.

On 14 January, Alimohammadi was buried. His burial was arranged at Emamzādeh Ali-Akbar Chizar in Tehran on Thursday 14 January 2010.

Ahmad Shirzad (reformist member of the sixth Iranian Parliament, professor of physics in Isfahan and Masoud Alimohammadi's close friend) writes: "In general his beliefs and actions were close to that of moderate Muslims. ... During the past couple of years he had ideologically become very close to the reformist movement. In the past few elections before the recent presidency election, he had voted for the reformist candidates and had been campaigning for them too." Shirzad adds that Alimohammadi told him how he and his students took part in 2009 Iranian election protests, 16 June.

It was claimed by Tehran University's Basij, or voluntary Islamist student militia, that his name was on a list of sanctioned individuals connected with Iranian nuclear program, but he was not on a compiled list. Mohammadi was among 240 university professors who signed a letter before the 2009 Presidential Election expressing support for the main opposition candidate, Mir Hossein Moussavi.

Another source found the assassination of "a 50-year-old researcher with no prominent political voice, no published work with military relevance and no declared links to Iran's nuclear program", as puzzling, although there were comparisons with the disappearance of Shahram Amiri in 2009 and the death of Ardeshir Hosseinpour in 2007.

Masoud Alimohammadi (Persian: مسعود علی‌محمدی, 24 August 1959 – 12 January 2010) was an Iranian quantum field theorist and elementary-particle physicist and a distinguished professor of elementary particle physics at the University of Tehran's Department of Physics. He was assassinated on 12 January 2010 in front of his home in Tehran, while leaving for university. Majid Jamali Fashi was convicted of his killing and executed on 15 May 2012. According to Time magazine, Western intelligence confirmed that the confession of Majid Jamali Fashi was genuine. He stated that he had acted on the instructions of Mossad and had been trained in Tel Aviv.

Ali-Mohammadi was born on August 25, 1959 (although some sources give March 23, 1961). He entered Shiraz University in 1978 where he obtained his BSc in 1985. He subsequently moved to the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, to study for his MSc in physics. In 1988 he began with his PhD studies at this university as one of its first PhD students in physics. He obtained his PhD there in 1992.