Israel is known for its clever assassination campaigns. Even the botched attempt at murdering Hamas leader Khaled Meshal was Shakespearean in design: the Israeli assailants put poison in his ear while he slept (that’s how Claudius killed Hamlet’s father). But what about retaliation?

Verbal threats are one thing, even something to rally support from, but cyber warfare and ongoing assassinations of valued scientists and military elite will not be taken lying down by the Iranians. And now, many are whispering that the explosion that killed Maj. Gen. Hassan Moghaddam, who spear-headed Iran’s missile program, was coordinated by the Israelis.

The Iranians claim the explosion was accidental, but an article by the intrepid Scott Peterson, who has been reporting on Iran for years, suggests a different story:

“Don’t believe the Iranians that it was an accident,” the unidentified Western source told Time in a report from Jerusalem. “There are more bullets in the magazine.”

Iranian state news is assisting the government in downplaying the event while honoring Moghaddam and the other “martyrs”. But there’s something so telling about this photograph of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, his paralyzed right arm in full view (he survived an assassination attempt in 1981) attending the funeral.