The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has publicly named nine Iranian nuclear scientists killed in a series of precision strikes early Friday, as part of its ongoing military operation targeting Iran’s nuclear program.
The military said the targeted scientists were central figures in Iran’s push to acquire a nuclear weapon, possessing decades of specialized expertise and knowledge.
“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 IDF said in a statement.
The nine scientists identified by the IDF are:
Fereydoon Abbasi – expert in nuclear engineering
Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi – expert in physics
Akbar Motalebi Zadeh – expert in chemical engineering
Saeed Barji – expert in materials engineering
Amir Hassan Fakhahi – expert in physics
Abd al-Hamid Minoushehr – expert in reactor physics
Mansour Asgari – expert in physics
Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari Daryani – expert in nuclear engineering
Ali Bakhouei Katirimi – expert in mechanics
The IDF stated that the scientists were killed in simultaneous airstrikes across Tehran in the same wave that also targeted and killed dozens of Iranian military commanders, including six senior officials.
The military said the operation was the result of years of classified intelligence work, intensified over the past year, which focused on tracking the movements and roles of key figures in Iran’s nuclear efforts.
“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 compartmentalized IDF plan.
“Dozens of intelligence researchers worked on a secret project aimed at tracking key nuclear scientists in Iran over the course of several years.” The statement read.
The IDF noted that many of the nine scientists were considered successors to Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, widely regarded as the architect of Iran’s nuclear program, who was killed in an operation attributed to Israel in 2020.
IDF names 9 Iranian nuclear scientists killed in opening strikes
