Iranian state media have confirmed that two prominent Iranian nuclear scientists were killed in Israeli airstrikes carried out overnight across multiple locations in Iran. The deaths mark a significant escalation in the fallout from Israel’s ongoing military operation targeting Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure.According to the Tasnim news agency, the scientists killed were Mohammad-Mehdi Tehranchi, a nuclear physicist, and the president of Islamic Azad University, and Fereydoun Abbasi, a former head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI). Both were reportedly assassinated in separate targeted strikes.In a further development, reports carried by Reuters and the BBC stated that a new explosion had occurred at the Natanz nuclear facility, one of Iran’s most sensitive and heavily guarded nuclear sites, located approximately 225 kilometres south of Tehran. The nature and extent of the damage at the site remain unclear.The Israeli strikes also hit multiple other locations in and around the capital, as well as in other cities, in what appears to be a sweeping attempt to cripple Iran’s nuclear capabilities and senior leadership structure. The killings of nuclear scientists Tehranchi and Abbasi, both deeply involved in Iran’s nuclear research and administration, signal a direct targeting of the country’s scientific elite, adding to fears of a broader regional escalation. Iranian authorities have yet to issue an official response or outline potential retaliatory steps.
