Israel airstrikes kill 3 more Iranian nuclear scientists; death toll reaches 9

TEHRAN: Three more nuclear scientists have been killed in Israeli airstrikes, raising the total number of Iranian scientists slain in recent days to nine amid escalating hostilities between the two arch-rivals.

According to Iran’s state television and the semi-official Tasnim News Agency, the latest victims were identified as Ali Bakhouei Karimi, a mechanical expert; Mansour Asgari, a physicist; and Saeed Borji, a materials engineer. All three were described as key contributors to Iran’s nuclear research and were martyred during what officials called “terrorist attacks by the Zionist regime.”

The reported assassinations come a day after six other Iranian nuclear personnel and three senior military figures were killed in a series of Israeli strikes, making this one of the deadliest attacks targeting Iran’s scientific and defence community in recent years.

Iranian authorities have condemned the killings as an act of state terrorism, vowing a strong response. “These repeated aggressions show the Zionist regime’s desperation and fear of Iran’s peaceful scientific advancements,” a government spokesperson said.

At least six prominent Iranian nuclear scientists were killed in Friday’s Israeli airstrikes on Tehran, as confirmed by initial Iranian reports. Among those killed were Abdolhamid Minoochehr, Ahmad Reza Zolfaqari, Seyed Amir Hossein Feqhi, Matlabizadeh, Mohammad Mahdi Tehranchi, and Fereydoon Abbasi — all affiliated with Iran’s nuclear development program.

Seyed Amir Hossein Feqhi was reportedly serving as deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and was also a faculty member at the Shahid Beheshti University of Tehran. Reports also confirmed that Matlabizadeh was martyred alongside his wife during the pre-dawn airstrikes.

The strikes also claimed the lives of Iran’s top military leadership, including Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces; Major General Hossein Salami, Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC); and Major General Gholam Ali Rashid, head of the Khatam al-Anbia Central Headquarters.

Following the incident, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei issued a strongly worded warning, stating that the “Zionist regime” will face dire consequences.

“With this crime, the Zionist regime has prepared for itself a bitter, painful fate, which it will definitely see,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in a statement issued hours after the attack.