The IDF Eliminated Nine Senior Scientists and Experts in the Iranian Nuclear Project

Yesterday, IAF fighter jets, guided by the Intelligence Directorate, simultaneously struck dozens of targets across Iran as part of a large-scale opening salvo of the operation.

During the IAF strikes at the onset of Operation “Rising Lion", nine senior scientists and experts, who advanced the Iranian regime’s nuclear weapons program, were eliminated. The strike was made possible thanks to precise intelligence gathered by the Intelligence Directorate. All of the eliminated scientists and experts served as significant knowledge centers in the Iranian nuclear project and possessed decades of accumulated experience in the development of nuclear weapons.

Among the senior scientists in the Iranian nuclear project who were eliminated:

Fereydoun Abbasi - expert in nuclear engineering

Mohammad Mahdi Tehranshi - physics expert

Akbar Motalebi Zadeh - expert in chemical engineering

Saeed Barji - materials engineering expert

Amir Hassan Fakhahi - physics expert

Abd al-Hamid Minoushehr - expert in reactor physics

Mansour Asgari - physics expert

Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari Daryani - expert in nuclear engineering

Ali Bakhouei Katirimi - expert in mechanics

The individuals who were eliminated played a central part of the progress toward nuclear weapons. Their elimination represents a significant blow to the Iranian regime’s ability to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

IDs of senior scientists and experts in the Iranian nuclear project who were eliminated: 

Illustration showing the key targets of the opening strike against senior scientists in the Iranian nuclear project and the senior military commanders: 

Photo of Mohammad Mahdi Tehranshi in one of the nuclear experiments of the Iranian regime: 

Video of Fereydoun Abbasi from May 2025, in which he testifies about the Iranian regime’s capabilities to advance nuclear weapons development: