Elite science milieus filled with top science students often have weirdos among them. They're joined by overly competitive people boiling with jealousy for one another. That's why, when news of the targeted shooting and killing of a top MIT professor came out on Tuesday, it was probably easy to dismiss it as a tragic personal situation. It was perhaps a nutty rival or an angry student who didn't get an 'A' on his paper. FBI officials hastened to insist that there was no 'link' between this murder and the spray-shooter who massacred students at nearby Brown University two days earlier, despite not knowing the identities of either of the killers, both of whom are at large.
But in Israel, officials smelled a rat.
According to the Jerusalem Post:
Israeli officials are examining intelligence from recent days that suggests an Iranian connection to the murder of Prof. Nuno Loureiro, a senior nuclear scientist at MIT, who was shot dead in his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, on Monday evening.
This is an assessment that has not yet been verified and is not supported at this stage by official findings from the investigative authorities in the United States.
Prof. Loureiro, who had previously spoken out in favor of Israel, was a 47-year-old Portuguese-born world-renowned plasma and nuclear fusion researcher.
Why they picked this top scientist and not another one more closely connected to recent strikes on Iran is unknown, but the Daily Mail makes the case that he might have been in Iran's gunsights for these reasons:
Israel accused Iran of secretly building its nuclear arsenal in violation of international agreements and leading to President Trump to order strikes on its nuclear facilities in August.
Loureiro was considered one of the world's leading researchers in energy and nuclear physics and was spearheading efforts to develop future technologies.
Neither the Jerusalem Post nor the Daily Mail mentioned it, but Iran has been caught with hit squads either in or trying to get into the U.S. through Joe Biden's open borders.
According to Google AI:
Key Incidents & Actions:
- Trump Assassination Plot (2024): The DOJ announced charges against an Iranian asset and two others for plotting to kill President Trump and other U.S. officials, disrupting schemes by the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) to use criminals for assassinations on U.S. soil.
- John Bolton Plot (2022): A member of Iran's IRGC, Shahram Poursafi, was charged for attempting to hire individuals to murder former National Security Advisor John Bolton, involving cryptocurrency payments and planned attacks.
- Intelligence Network Targeting Dissidents (2021): The Treasury sanctioned an IRGC intelligence network led by Alireza Shahvaroghi Farahani for plotting to kidnap and surveil Iranian dissidents in the U.S..
- Recent ICE Arrests (2025): Homeland Security announced the arrests of 11 Iranian nationals, some with alleged ties to terrorism or military backgrounds (like a former sniper), in a broader operation to remove threats, though these weren't explicitly "hit squad" arrests but focused on illegal entry and potential risks.
Key Takeaway: The U.S. government, through the FBI and DOJ, actively investigates and thwarts alleged Iranian plots involving operatives or proxies to conduct assassinations and surveillance on U.S. soil, often targeting critics or former officials, but many primary plotters face charges while remaining in Iran.
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