Israel’s Secret War on Iranian Nuclear Scientists: 16 Killed in Covert June Strikes

Watan-In a recent investigative report, French newspaper Le Monde explored how Israel has been tracking Iranian nuclear scientists and how its June 2025 strikes killed sixteen top Iranian researchers involved in developing a nuclear bomb. Through this unprecedented wave of assassinations, Israel believes it has dealt a decisive blow to Iran’s military nuclear program.

Israel had been monitoring these individuals for two decades. It had previously attempted to assassinate one of them, Fereydoon Abbasi, in 2010. A hardline physicist and ideologue, Abbasi and his wife narrowly escaped a car bomb likely planted by Israeli agents. That incident marked the beginning of Israel’s targeted assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, Le Monde reports.

Abbasi was later appointed Vice President and head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, where he strongly opposed any international deal limiting Iran’s nuclear development. He died on June 13 and was buried alongside colleagues from the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), a secretive body suspected of developing uranium enrichment technologies for military purposes since the 1990s.

Despite setbacks, Iran’s nuclear knowledge has not vanished

While global attention focused on U.S. airstrikes on June 22 targeting deep enrichment facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, Israel sees its greatest achievement in its less-visible, harder-to-trace operations—hundreds of strikes carried out over just 12 days. Although Iran’s accumulated nuclear knowledge remains, Israel considers the deaths of 16 scientists and destruction of their labs enough to dismantle the military dimension of the nuclear program.

Israeli Ambassador to France Joshua Zarka stated that the scientists capable of converting highly enriched uranium into a bomb were killed, and the facilities they worked in were destroyed. “We’ve pushed back the threat for several good years,” he said.

On June 13, at least nine SPND scientists were killed. A tenth, Mohammad Reza Sadeghi Saber, survived—but his 17-year-old son was killed at their Tehran home. The family fled to Astaneh Ashrafieh near the Caspian Sea, but Israel assassinated Saber there on June 25, just hours before a ceasefire began. The strike also killed 13 of his relatives and neighbors, according to his surviving brother.

Most, if not all, of these scientists were linked to Iran’s old “AMAD” project—an early foundation for the country’s nuclear weapons efforts that evolved into SPND. Ambassador Zarka confirmed that six additional scientists were killed, whose names Iran has not acknowledged publicly.

Israel claims Iran reorganized SPND less than two years ago and had resumed research on uranium compression using explosives, neutron sources, and bomb miniaturization—all under a dual-use civilian-military guise. The goal, allegedly, was to ready Iran for rapid bomb-making should a political decision be made.

Israel also claims to have destroyed every known SPND site, including the Sanjarian facility, where nuclear explosives research was conducted in the early 2000s. After satellite imagery revealed activity resuming in 2022, Israel hit the SPND headquarters in Tehran in late June, and partially destroyed its newer location inside a Defense Ministry recreation center established in 2013.

The older complex, known as Lavizan-2, housed the Institute for Applied Physics and the “Shahid Karimi” company, both under international sanctions. It was destroyed on June 15 and reportedly contained labs dedicated to nuclear weapons development. These facilities were located near the sanctioned Malek Ashtar University.

Israel also boasted that it destroyed Iran’s only factory for converting gaseous uranium into metal—an essential step for bomb construction. Built in 2004 at the heart of the Isfahan facility, it was wiped out on June 14 according to satellite images reviewed by Le Monde. Subsequent Israeli and U.S. strikes demolished nearby structures.

David Albright, head of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, said Israel claimed it also destroyed SPND’s archives stored at its headquarters. Mossad had seized parts of these documents from a Tehran warehouse in 2018. According to Zarka, the last known Iranian-held version of these records was destroyed in June, along with current research files.

The blind spot

Still, experts agree that Iran’s nuclear knowledge cannot be erased. James Acton of the Carnegie Endowment noted, “I don’t believe Israel can secure itself through assassinations alone.” Most of the killed scientists had been professors at Tehran universities, like Shahid Beheshti University, and passed their knowledge to students.

Fereydoon Abbasi himself headed the physics department at Imam Hossein University, linked to the Revolutionary Guard. In his last interview published on May 25, he said: “At our age, the bulk of the mission is done. We’ve passed the responsibility to the younger generation.”

Even within Israel, there are concerns parts of the program have gone dark. Former Israeli security official Avner Vilán said, “Iran has lost many scientists, but we’ve known them for 20 years. If I were the Supreme Leader, I’d build a secret research unit outside AMAD, fund it through a religious foundation, and issue no reports until the mission is complete.”

Israel acknowledges this “dark zone” but says its intelligence remains robust. Ambassador Zarka emphasized: “We don’t target all Iranian physicists—only those directly involved in building a bomb.” He said the strikes also targeted decision-makers, including members of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

Le Monde noted that Israel has not published proof of SPND’s reorganization or the level of danger it posed. One Israeli nuclear program insider reminded that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has the final say on building a bomb—a step he has publicly rejected since the 1990s and again after partially freezing AMAD in the 2000s. Former Israeli National Security Advisor Uzi Arad warned: “Iran can resume its program within weeks. It’s a political decision above all.”

Iran’s regime at a crossroads

The report adds that European powers are deeply concerned by the opacity surrounding Iran’s current program, especially after it expelled IAEA inspectors. A Western diplomat said: “The 2015 nuclear deal provided unprecedented transparency. Now, Israel has sacrificed part of its intelligence network for these strikes, and Iran is purging internally.”

Israel, the paper continues, makes no secret of its intentions. While it supports the return of inspectors and talks with Washington, it remains prepared for further strikes, following a “mowing the grass” doctrine: periodic strikes to weaken the enemy without destroying its full capabilities. Israel used this strategy in Gaza (2007–2023), and since 2024 in Lebanon and Syria. Could it now be applied to Iran?

Avner Vilán remarked: “Iran was close to having enough enriched uranium for ten bombs. So mowing the grass isn’t a bad option—time is not on the regime’s side.” But with each strike, Israel pushes Iran’s regime further into a corner. A Western diplomat told Le Monde, “Israel has gone so far that it may not feel safe unless there’s regime change in Iran.”

In its conclusion, Le Monde references statements made in April by Ali Larijani, advisor to the Supreme Leader, who said Iran was “not pursuing nuclear weapons,” but warned that if Western powers behaved irresponsibly, Tehran “would be forced to reconsider.” Today, that option is back on the table.

Former Israeli security chief Avner Vilán concludes: “Iran has never had more reasons to build the bomb. Now the regime has only two options: a deal with Washington or the bomb. There’s no third path.”