{"id":27208,"date":"2025-07-01T17:15:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T14:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reganews.co.il\/en\/?p=27208"},"modified":"2025-07-01T12:15:58","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T09:15:58","slug":"report-reveals-how-irans-top-nuclear-scientists-were-eliminated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reganews.co.il\/en\/report-reveals-how-irans-top-nuclear-scientists-were-eliminated\/","title":{"rendered":"Report Reveals How Iran\u2019s Top Nuclear Scientists Were Eliminated"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Operation Rising Lion (Am Ka\u2019Lavi<\/em>) began on June 13, heavy airstrikes targeted the homes of several of Iran\u2019s top nuclear scientists, killing nine individuals who had spent decades developing Tehran\u2019s atomic program. According to sources cited in the Wall Street Journal, the assassinations were executed nearly simultaneously to prevent the targets from escaping.<\/p>\n

Eleven days later, just hours before a ceasefire took effect, another scientist \u2014 Seyed Sedighi Saber \u2014 was killed in a strike in northern Iran, according to both Israeli and Iranian media reports.<\/p>\n

Operation Narnia
\n<\/strong>The mission was reportedly so sophisticated that its planners nicknamed it \u201cOperation Narnia,\u201d after the fantasy series by C.S. Lewis. The assassinations marked the culmination of a 15-year effort to dismantle one of Iran\u2019s most sensitive assets: its elite team of nuclear experts, active at least through 2003.<\/p>\n

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Explosion in Iran, illustration | Photo: Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Major Blow to Iran<\/strong>
\nWhile Israel and the U.S. assess the extent of damage to Iran\u2019s nuclear sites, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the hits “pushed Iran\u2019s nuclear program back by years.”<\/p>\n

Former officials and experts emphasize that the strikes dealt a severe blow to Iran\u2019s ability to accelerate its bomb program. By the time the ceasefire took effect on Wednesday, at least 11 scientists had been killed \u2014 most with hands-on experience in warhead components like explosives systems and neutron initiators critical to triggering a nuclear chain reaction.<\/p>\n

Strategic Impact<\/strong>
\n“It\u2019s one thing to lose this expertise gradually over time, especially if you\u2019re not actively building a bomb. You can replace them,” said Eric Brewer, Director for Counterproliferation at the U.S. National Security Council. “But if you\u2019re in the middle of trying to build one \u2014 or considering it in the near term \u2014 the impact is much more serious.”<\/p>\n

Iran maintains it has never sought nuclear weapons and claims its program is strictly for peaceful purposes. However, the UN nuclear watchdog has confirmed the existence of a military nuclear project \u2014 Project AMAD \u2014 which operated until 2003. According to Israeli and Western sources, that work has since continued intermittently, mainly via simulations and computer modeling.<\/p>\n

Drone Strike and SPND HQ Hit in Tehran
\n<\/strong>One week after the June 13 strikes, Israel reportedly used a drone to eliminate another scientist hiding in what was believed to be a safe house in Tehran. His identity has not been released. Israel also announced it struck the headquarters of the SPND organization in Tehran \u2014 the successor to Project AMAD.<\/p>\n

Funerals and National Mourning<\/strong>
\nOn Saturday, mass funerals were held for the slain scientists and other high-ranking Iranian officials. According to Iranian media, some of the coffins carried family members. Fars News reported that at least 22 relatives of the scientists were also killed. Israel did not comment on whether family members were deliberately targeted.<\/p>\n

Israel stated that its actions prevented Iran from crossing the nuclear weapons threshold.<\/p>\n

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Nuclear facilities in Iran | Photo: Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Key Targets<\/strong>
\nFereydoon Abbasi-Davani, former head of Iran\u2019s Atomic Energy Organization, was a primary target. According to David Albright, President of the Institute for Science and International Security, Abbasi-Davani was one of the original founders of Iran\u2019s nuclear weapons project and served as a senior advisor to Project AMAD. He specialized in developing neutron initiators \u2014 components that trigger the bomb\u2019s chain reaction. Abbasi-Davani survived an assassination attempt in 2010, the same day another nuclear scientist was killed. He recently told Iranian TV: “If they tell me to build a bomb \u2014 I\u2019ll build it.”<\/p>\n