(Image Source: Press TV)

BY: TRACY PFEIFFER

ANCHOR: AUSTIN KIM

World media are backtracking on a story that broke Sunday -- saying an Iranian nuclear scientist had been assassinated near his home in Tehran.
WAGA explains.

“Officials in Iran have corrected what was a confusing story a shooting death in the country. Initial reports from state-run media said a physicist involved in Iran's nuclear program was gunned down, but now they say the victim turned out to be a university student. The two apparently share a similar name." 

Both Iran’s state-run PressTV and the quote- “semi-official” Fars News Agency announced the apparent case of mistaken identity.

“... a brilliant post graduate student in the field of Power and Electronics, was gunned down Saturday afternoon in the country's capital city of Tehran by two unknown terrorists." 

There’s some speculation it wasn’t just a name issue -- since the killing bears similarities to earlier attacks targeting Iranian nuclear scientists. The Washington Post explains.

“In November, two scientists were targeted by men on motorcycles who attached explosives to their cars during Tehran’s morning rush hour. One of the scientists ... died, while the other ... survived the attack and now heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. ...In January 2010, another physicist ... was killed when explosives attached to a motorcycle detonated in front of his house." 

A correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor says -- whatever the case, Iranian officials are still blaming the attack on the United States and Israel.

“... Iran’s speaker of the parliament ... said the assassination was ‘another example of American-Zionist animosity against Iran ...’ He also ‘advised American officials to think well about consequences of their actions.'" 

Some countries like the United States believe Iran has recently been beefing up its nuclear abilities to make bombs, but Iranian officials deny those allegations.

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Transcript by Newsy.