Tel Aviv, June 14
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) on Saturday announced elimination of nine Iranian nuclear scientists during the opening phase of its military operation against Iran's nuclear programme, which began early Friday.
Revealing details of the ongoing operation, the IDF described it as a critical blow to Iran's nuclear ambitions.
According to the IDF, the nine scientists were instrumental in advancing Iran's efforts to acquire a nuclear weapon.
"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 military stated.
Those killed in the strikes were identified as Fereydoon Abbasi, a nuclear engineering expert; Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, a physicist; Akbar Motalebi Zadeh, a chemical engineering expert; Saeed Barji, an expert in materials engineering; Amir Hassan Fakhahi, a physicist; Abd al-Hamid Minoushehr, an expert in reactor physics; Mansour Asgari, a physicist; Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari Daryani, a nuclear engineer; and Ali Bakhouei Katirimi, a mechanical expert.
The IDF added that many of them were considered successors to Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the late nuclear scientist widely regarded as the "father of the Iranian nuclear project," who was assassinated in 2020.