The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it had killed nine senior scientists and experts involved in Iranʼs nuclear program in strikes on June 13 against military and nuclear facilities in Iran. It also confirmed the killing of more than 20 Iranian commanders, as previously reported by the media.
IDF claims that all of the eliminated scientists and experts were "important centers of knowledge in the Iranian nuclear project and had many years of experience in developing nuclear weapons".
"Their destruction is a significant blow to the Iranian regimeʼs ability to obtain weapons of mass destruction," the Israel Defense Forces said.
It is about:
- nuclear engineering expert Fereydoun Abbasi. The IDF says that in this video from May 2025, he demonstrates the Iranian regime’s ability to advance the development of nuclear weapons;
- physics expert Mohammad Mahdi Tehranshi;
- chemical engineering expert Akbar Motalebi Zadeh;
- materials science expert Said Barji;
- physics expert Amir Hassan Fahahi;
- reactor physics expert Abd al Hamid Minusher;
- physics expert Mansour Asghari;
- nuclear engineering expert Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari Dariani;
- mechanics expert Ali Bahuei Katirimi.
Photo of Mohammed Mahdi Tehrani during one of the Iranian regimeʼs nuclear experiments.
The Israel Defense Forces also confirmed that it had eliminated more than 20 Iranian commanders. In particular, this concerns the head of the Armed Forces Intelligence Directorate and the commander of the surface-to-surface missile complex of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Reuters previously reported on this.
The commander of the Aerospace Forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, was killed. Earlier, IDF announced that it had eliminated the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Hossein Salami, and the commander of the Hatem al-Anbiya (Emergency Command) Hatem-Gholam Ali Rashid.
The chain of command of the Iranian regimeʼs security service.
The head of the Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Gholam-Reza Marhabi, was responsible for intelligence analysis, operational planning, and combat training against Israel, and was a close associate of Mohammad Hossein Bagheri.
The commander of the IRGCʼs surface-to-surface missile system, Mohammad Bagheri, controlled Iranʼs long-range missiles and cruise missiles and participated in planning attacks on Israel in 2024.
What preceded
On the night of June 13, Israel attacked the center of Iranʼs nuclear, missile, and military infrastructure.
In order to neutralize Iranian air defenses, Mossad established a UAV base on Iranian territory long before the attack. They were launched simultaneously even before the attack began.
Following the large-scale Israeli shelling, Iran reported that it would not participate in talks with the United States on its nuclear program, scheduled for June 15.
In the evening of the same day, Iran launched several waves of ballistic missiles at Israel. This was in response to the IDF attack on Iranian military and nuclear facilities. Israel reported three deaths. It is known that the Iranian missile hit near a house in Rishon LeZion, south of Tel Aviv. More than 40 people were injured, reported Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter. According to Fox News, the IDF headquarters in Kiryat Shmona was hit, in particular.
The Israeli Air Force later declared that it had struck defense facilities in Tehran on the night of June 14. Israeli aircraft hit dozens of targets, including anti-aircraft missile system infrastructure.
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