Iran claims they have rounded up the Israeli spy network behind the assassination of one nuclear scientist and the car bomb that nearly killed another.

Late Monday night, State controlled PRESSTV aired an interview with a man who claimed he had received training in Israel and then worked to carry out the plot by using motorcycles to place the bombs and then escape during rush hour traffic.  The “captured spy” sat in a purple sweater and opened collar white shirt as he described trips to Israel and Mossad HQ to train for his mission. His descriptions, as transcribed by local  press, seemed elementary at best and hardly the  confession of a hardened spy. The head of Iran’s Intelligence service offered up his comments on the spy ring, as quoted by the Jerusalem Post, saying “heavy blows were inflected on the structure of the Zionist intelligence and security services.”

It has been a bad 6-months for the Iranian nuclear program.  Sanctions have put a crimp on the regime’s ability to acquire  the highly technical machines needed to enrich uranium.  The Stuxnet computer virus badly damaged the computer systems that control the nuclear program. Reports from German scientists, who have studied the situation, say it could be years before Iran can recover from the virus’s wrath.  The assassination also set the program back but perhaps more importantly was seen as a PR disaster for Iran as the world speculated who could pull off such a daring attack on hostile soil.

Experts disagree on exactly what is going on it.  Its entirely possible that Iran did indeed round up a network of nearly 10 spies as it claims.  Its also possible that this is merely an attempt to save face after the out going head of Israeli’s intelligence service, The Mossad, announced that because of “technical setbacks” Iran was now 4 years away from the bomb.  Israel has a history of targeted assassinations against those working on enemy weapons projects.  Gerald Bull, an America arms dealer, was killed in Europe while working on a “supergun” for the Iraqis.  Its widely thought that a Mossad team carried out the killing as a warning.

The spokesman for Israel’s Prime Minster responded only by saying, “its not our practice to comment on such allegations.”  There has been quite a bit of “wink-wink, nudge-nudge” behavior going on in Israel as it relates to the Mossad’s involvement in the Iranian setbacks.  The Jerusalem Mayor, who made millions in the internet security business, was asked about the STUXNET virus he responded, “If it worked…it was probably us.”