The information was attributed to Israel’s Ambassador to France, Joshua Zarka, who described the assassinations as a major blow to Iran’s scientific infrastructure. “The fact that the whole group disappeared is basically throwing back the programme by a number of years, by quite a number of years,” Joshua Zarka told the AP. He suggested that eliminating the core team responsible for Iran’s nuclear efforts could make it “almost” impossible for Tehran to continue building weapons with whatever nuclear infrastructure survived the Israeli and U.S. bombings in recent weeks.
The AP interview with Joshua Zarka was reportedly conducted on Monday. A day later, Iranian state TV confirmed that another scientist, Mohammad Reza Sedighi Saber, was killed in a fresh Israeli airstrike. Saber, a prominent nuclear physicist, had previously survived a strike on June 13 that killed his teenage son. His death further fuels the narrative of a calculated Israeli campaign aimed at erasing Iran’s nuclear brainpower.
Despite the bold claims made by the Israeli envoy, several international analysts caution that Iran’s scientific capabilities are more widespread and not solely reliant on one group. Experts argue that while the assassinations are a significant setback, they are unlikely to cripple the country’s nuclear ambitions entirely. Iran has invested heavily in cultivating scientific talent, and replacements could emerge to continue the work.
The targeted killings add yet another dangerous layer to the already volatile tensions between Iran and Israel, raising concerns that such escalations might trigger a broader regional conflict.
Israel has reportedly carried out a series of targeted assassinations that have left at least 14 Iranian scientists dead, according to The Associated Press. The victims included chemists, physicists, and engineers—many of whom were believed to be linked to Iran’s nuclear and weapons development programs.
The information was attributed to Israel’s Ambassador to France, Joshua Zarka, who described the assassinations as a major blow to Iran’s scientific infrastructure. “The fact that the whole group disappeared is basically throwing back the programme by a number of years, by quite a number of years,” Zarka told the AP. He suggested that eliminating the core team responsible for Iran’s nuclear efforts could make it “almost” impossible for Tehran to continue building weapons with whatever nuclear infrastructure survived the Israeli and U.S. bombings in recent weeks.
The AP interview with Joshua Zarka was reportedly conducted on Monday. A day later, Iranian state TV confirmed that another scientist, Mohammad Reza Sedighi Saber, was killed in a fresh Israeli airstrike. Saber, a prominent nuclear physicist, had previously survived a strike on June 13 that killed his teenage son. His death further fuels the narrative of a calculated Israeli campaign aimed at erasing Iran’s nuclear brainpower.
Despite the bold claims made by the Israeli envoy, several international analysts caution that Iran’s scientific capabilities are more widespread and not solely reliant on one group. Experts argue that while the assassinations are a significant setback, they are unlikely to cripple the country’s nuclear ambitions entirely. Iran has invested heavily in cultivating scientific talent, and replacements could emerge to continue the work.
The targeted killings add yet another dangerous layer to the already volatile tensions between Iran and Israel, raising concerns that such escalations might trigger a broader regional conflict.
