Recently, not too far from Tehran, Iran, in a wooded area near the city, a man was found dead. This by itself would be a sad moment, but it takes on a new and wholly sinister quality in the light of certain facts about the deceased. The deceased in question was Mojtaba Ahmadi, and he served as commander of Iran's Cyber War Headquarters. What's more, since 2007, Ahmadi marks the seventh person in Iran that was a major figure in the country's military or scientific community killed.

Ahmadi joins, at last report, five nuclear scientists and the head of Iran's ballistic missile program to be killed in the last few years, and Iran is pointing fingers squarely—at last report—at Israel's Mossad agency, though it's rather unclear as yet who's really responsible. Ahmadi, who was last seen leaving his home for work on Saturday, was subsequently found in the wooded area with two bullets firmly lodged in his heart. Witnesses noted that the injuries made it seem like the killing in question had taken place with a pistol at close range, so an assassination does seem reasonably likely.

Facebook (News - Alert) messages for the Cyber War Headquarters indicated that Ahmadi was a commander, and several condolence messages were posted, though there were some that thought such messages a security risk. One post said, “Stop giving more information about him. The counter-revolutionaries will take advantage of his murder. It sounds like a hit job for a security officer of this importance.” This stance was quickly bolstered by a statement from the Revolutionary Guard Corps' Imam Hassan Mojtaba division, who warned about speculating about the identities of those who carried out said killing. Tightened security measures have resulted, combining to form what some have called “a culture of fear” in the security arms of the Iranian military.

Iran's nuclear ambitions have been well known for quite some time, and haven't been well-received by many other countries throughout the world. It wouldn't be out of line to suggest that the deaths of the ballistic missile program's head as well as five nuclear scientists besides might be in aid of reducing the program's long term effectiveness.

But at the same time, Ahmadi didn't have much if anything to do with the Iranian nuclear program, instead specializing in cyber defenses and related matters. This in turn suggests two possibilities: one, someone's looking forward. The idea of cyber warfare has only recently come into vogue, but weaponized hackers and attacks on infrastructure like power grids and whatnot are certainly posing a hazard sufficiently large to make pre-emptive removal of those involved in such activities a tempting prospect. Two, the two concepts may be more related than anyone expected. The Iranian nuclear program has a significant computer component involved; most any scientific research does. Taking out a cyber war official—especially one who specialized in defense as Ahmadi did—might leave the protection side of the cyber war equation a little slack, opening the country up to attack and less able to repel such attacks.

Naturally, much of this is speculation based on what's currently known and projections to fill in with what's currently unknown. A man is dead, and that's a shame no matter what country he's in. But it could mean something much more telling for the region as a whole, and for potential attacks on said region. Only time will tell what happens as a result of Ahmadi's death, but the news is not likely to be good no matter what.