The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have announced that nine Iranian nuclear scientists were killed in the opening wave of a large-scale military operation targeting Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, which commenced early Friday.
Describing the operation as a critical blow to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the IDF stated that the individuals targeted were pivotal figures in the Islamic Republic’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons capabilities.
“All the scientists and experts who were eliminated were significant sources of knowledge in the Iranian nuclear project and had decades of cumulative experience in the development of nuclear weapons,” the Israeli military said in an official statement on Saturday.
The scientists killed in the targeted airstrikes on Tehran were identified as:
- Fereydoon Abbasi, nuclear engineering expert
- Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, physicist
- Akbar Motalebi Zadeh, chemical engineering expert
- Saeed Barji, materials engineering specialist
- Amir Hassan Fakhahi, physicist
- Abd al-Hamid Minoushehr, reactor physics expert
- Mansour Asgari, physicist
- Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari Daryani, nuclear engineer
- Ali Bakhouei Katirimi, mechanical engineering expert
The IDF said many of these individuals were regarded as successors to Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the prominent Iranian nuclear scientist widely considered the architect of Iran’s nuclear programme, who was assassinated in 2020.
According to the Israeli military, the operation was the result of years of clandestine intelligence gathering, with dozens of intelligence analysts working to track and identify key figures in Iran’s nuclear research apparatus.
“The elimination of the scientists was made possible following in-depth intelligence research that intensified over the past year as part of a classified and compartmentalised IDF plan,” the statement noted.
These targeted airstrikes were part of a broader coordinated assault that also resulted in the deaths of dozens of Iranian military commanders, including six senior officials.
While the full scope of the damage remains unclear, the IDF claims the strikes have dealt a substantial setback to Iran’s nuclear programme, amid escalating regional tensions.
–Input IANS
