WRAPUP 1-Bomb kills Iran nuclear scientist; US presses sanctions

* Iran official blames Israel for Tehran car bomb

* U.S. Treasury Secretary appeals to China over Iran

* Clinton slams Iran uranium move

By Ramin Mostafavi

TEHRAN, Jan 11 (Reuters) - An Iranian nuclear scientist was killed by a bomb placed on his car on Wednesday in an attack Tehran's deputy governor blamed on Israel, raising the diplomatic temperature in a stand-off with the West over Iran's nuclear programme.

The bombing, which a city official said was similar to attacks a year ago on nuclear scientists in Iran, came as the United States sought to persuade a sceptical China to help efforts to toughen sanctions against Iran.

"The bomb was a magnetic one and the same as the ones previously used for the assassination of the scientists, and is the work of the Zionists (Israelis)," Iran's semi-official Fars news agency quoted Tehran's Deputy Governor Safarali Baratloo as saying.

Fars said the victim was a "nuclear scientist" who "supervised a department at Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility".

New U.S. sanctions against Iran have started to bite. The rial currency lost 20 percent of its value against the dollar in the past week and Iran has threatened to shut the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 percent of trade oil passes.