More gaseous conspiracies

The Sunday Times says that Iranian nuclear scientist ‘assassinated by Mossad’:

A prize-winning Iranian nuclear scientist has died in mysterious circumstances, according to Radio Farda, which is funded by the US State Department and broadcasts to Iran.

An intelligence source suggested that Ardeshire Hassanpour, 44, a nuclear physicist, had been assassinated by Mossad, the Israeli security service.

Hassanpour worked at a plant in Isfahan where uranium hexafluoride gas is produced. The gas is needed to enrich uranium in another plant at Natanz which has become the focus of concerns that Iran may be developing nuclear weapons.

According to Radio Farda, Iranian reports of Hassanpour’s death emerged on January 21 after a delay of six days, giving the cause as “gas poisoning”. The Iranian reports did not say how or where Hassanpour was poisoned but his death was said to have been announced at a conference on nuclear safety.

If you don't see a direct link to the poisonous balloons, you definitely need a new pair of reading glasses. In any case, whatever is the cause of this mysterious demise, the old Yiddish saying (in a free translation) seems to work in this case: "Dead, shmead - the main thing is to be healthy".

Oh, and another observation related to the following:

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency say that hundreds of technicians and labourers have been “working feverishly” to assemble equipment at the plant.

Slow down, people - as you see, haste around uranium hexafluoride could be detrimental to your health...

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

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