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Comment by vijaybritto | Hacker News Reader

"Van Sabben, a civil engineer by profession, died in a motorbike crash near his home in Dubai two years later."

This is a glorious story for the conspiracy theorists!

In the original article [0] (in Dutch), it says:

> Twee weken na zijn raadselachtige vertrek uit Iran overlijdt Van Sabben bij een ongeluk in Sharjah, nabij Dubai. Hij raakt op 16 januari 2009 met zijn motor van de weg, slaat over de kop en breekt zijn nek.

Two _weeks_ later, not two years later. That is incredibly efficient of the Iranian secret service. This is most likely even before Stuxnet was starting to do damage. Almost as if it really were an accident. Or as if there was another secret service involved. One that already knew what was going on. No loose ends.

[0] https://www.volkskrant.nl/kijkverder/v/2024/sabotage-in-iran...

Why would Iran go out of his way to kill a foreign agent in revenge?

His work was done. It is far more likely that he was killed by his own side as a security measure

Yeah, that is what I'm implying here. I doubt Iran would already have known about Stuxnet by the time he was dead.

I can think of only one country that would do something like this.

I can think of three: Saudi Arabia, Israel or the USA. Which one are you thinking of?

In the would of assassinations like these I'd say there are only two countries on that list. Israel/US as one entity and then Saudi Arabia.

In the Greek wiretapping case, which has been linked to the US Embassy, there was a suspicious suicide:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_wiretapping_case_2004%E2...

Dubai's drivers are some of the most dangerous in the world. It's quite normal to see a Ferrari and Maserati pull up at an intersection, then take off on a drag race like they are in a Fast & Furious movie.

While the driving in general is pretty bad, the super car example is partially because there are a lot of companies that rent out super cars by the day/hour.

The guys you see red-lining a blue Lamborghini on Sheikh Zayed/JBR, with a selfie stick and two friends squashed into the back (sunglasses on at night of course), are almost always renters.

So like the US but with fewer beers and trucks?

This is not a conspiracy at all. It's common for such people to die in "accidents", or simply found dead.

An MI6 agent found dead in his home, "neatly packed" [0].

KGB has a special division for tailored assassinations [1].

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Gareth_Williams

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_laboratory_of_the_Sovie...

> His naked, decomposing remains were found in the bath of the main bedroom's en-suite bathroom, inside a red bag that was padlocked from the outside, with the keys inside the bag.

> A subsequent Metropolitan Police re-investigation concluded that Williams's death was "probably an accident".

Can't make this up...

I think the SVR probably did it, but you'd be remiss to ignore the facts that he had a documented interest in bondage and self bondage, had previously had to get help from his landlord after tying himself to a bed, and that a key to the padlock was found inside the bag with him. It was a weird case.

Well I guess it was an accident insofar as it was not planned by Mr. Williams.

Special services killing agents of other special services is not a conspiracy theory.

Special services killing agents (or assets) of their own special services is not a conspiracy theory.

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