Top Iranian Nuclear Scientists Killed By Secret Israeli Weapon: Report
As Israeli jets struck military targets, high-ranking officers and nuclear-related facilities in Iran during the opening salvo of Operation Rising Lion, there was another extremely high-stakes clandestine mission taking place. Code-named Operation Narnia, Israeli operatives reportedly used a 'secret weapon' to simultaneously kill nine of Iran's top nuclear scientists as they slept in their beds, according to Israel's N12 news outlet. It was the latest move in Israel's long-time effort to blunt Iranian nuclear ambitions by killing off the people capable of advancing the program.
Officials declined to say what this special weapon, 'which remains under censorship and has not been disclosed publicly,' was, the Times of Israel explained. The War Zone cannot verify these claims. However, as we have previously reported, Israel hit residences of high-value individuals with smaller munitions and Mossad used drones and anti-tank guided missiles inside Iran (more on those later) on the first night of its attack. These targeted assassinations continue today, although not in the same volume seen during the opening acts of the war. It remains possible that some of these systems were used in the assassination of the scientists.
Dubbed Operation Narnia, #Israel's opening attack against #Iran saw the simultaneous killing of nine of Tehran's top ten nuclear scientists in their beds. They were killed using a special weapon whose details were barred from publication. 1/2https://t.co/Tn6uT2rRT4
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) June 20, 2025
Target of the assassination in Tehran is a nuclear scientist.Source: Israeli Channel 12 https://t.co/nExKGCQ5VB
— Clash Report (@clashreport) June 20, 2025
Israeli intelligence deliberately orchestrated simultaneous hits as the opening blow of the war to avoid any chance of warning or escape, according to the N12 report. In previous incidents, Iranian nuclear scientists had often been targeted with car bombs and drive-by shootings while commuting. As a result, these public events set off alarms and spurred increased protection for other potential high-value targets.
For a reason not yet clear, while nine scientists were killed, a 10th scientist escaped the initial attack but was killed later.
'These scientists believed their homes were safe zones,' a senior Israeli official told N12. 'They never imagined they would be reached in their bedrooms.'
Israeli intelligence officials told N12 that killing the scientists was the most important part of the opening phase of Operation Rising Lion. Air defenses, ballistic missile systems, and command and control nodes are important and difficult to replace. However, the officials emphasized that 'the knowledge of these people is irreplaceable. It takes many years, if any, to regroup these minds who each worked for 20-40 years on the nuclear and weapons program.'
'There is a long-term effect here for more than many years,' the officials added.
The nuclear scientists who were eliminated 'had been involved for decades in promoting nuclear weapons – an essential component of the Iranian regime's plan to destroy the State of Israel,' according to the publication.
Given the importance of the scientists, Israel monitored them for years using 'dozens of researchers in the IDF Intelligence Division's Research Division,' N12 stated. 'This was a combined team of technology researchers and experts in the Iranian arena.'
The operation intensified over the past 12 months, and the scientists became 'targets' last November, when the decision was made to strike the opening blow to this war. Operation Narnia 'simply wiped out the entire top Iranian nuclear scientists who hold all the knowledge about the nuclear and enrichment [programs].'
According to the Times of Israel, the scientists killed were identified as: 'Fereydoon Abbasi, expert in nuclear engineering; Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, expert in physics; Akbar Motalebi Zadeh, expert in chemical engineering; Saeed Barji, expert in materials engineering; Amir Hassan Fakhahi, expert in physics; Abd al-Hamid Minoushehr, expert in reactor physics; Mansour Asgari, expert in physics; Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari Daryani, expert in nuclear engineering; and Ali Bakhouei Katirimi, expert in mechanics.'
ASSASSINATED:These are the 9 Senior Nuclear Scientists and Experts in the Iranian Nuclear Project that were killed by the IDF.Each one served to advance the Iranian nuclear project and possessed decades of accumulated experience in the development of nuclear weapons.All of… pic.twitter.com/6Kp02VJCdm
— Edward (@DonKlericuzio) June 14, 2025
Israel has used unconventional means of killing Iranian nuclear scientists before. In November 2020, Iranian officials said that Israel killed a top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh using a machine gun in either a remote-controlled or entirely automated mount on a pickup truck, with no actual human assassins present.
You can see images of the aftermath of that attack below.
Images allegedly directly from the assassination spot of #Iran chief nuclear scientist Muhsain Fakhrizadeh. https://t.co/VUphKs5KKC pic.twitter.com/xDxSQr9cDb
— Aldin
(@aldin_aba) November 27, 2020
It remains unclear whether the scientists were killed by a weapon delivered from the air or launched from the ground, possibly in close proximity to its target. As we noted in a previous story, Mossad operatives used remotely operated Rafael Spike precision-guided missile systems during the initial phase of Rising Lion to destroy air defenses around Tehran. These missiles are man-in-the-loop guided and allow operators to fly the missile to a highly specific point before detonation. They can even loiter for short periods of time. Video of that operation emerged on social media, which you can see below.
Images of Mossad operatives in Iran conducting strikes overnight. Appear to possibly use Spike ATGMs to hit air defence assets. https://t.co/01v0na4rbx
— ELINT News (@ELINTNews) June 13, 2025
In addition to using the remote Spike systems, Mossad also set up drone production sites in buildings in Isfahan, some 200 miles south of Tehran. In one location, investigators found a 'three [story] building being used by Israeli agents to assemble and store UAVs intended for terrorist operations,' the semi-official Tasnim news outlet stated on X. 'Officials also found homemade bombs and over 200 kg of explosives.'
WILD
Iranian state TV: An Israeli three-story drone manufacturing workshop has been discovered in Tehran.WHAATT?? pic.twitter.com/ZD1qPjJO1r
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) June 15, 2025
Israel also pioneered the use of highly maneuverable suicide drones that are totally optimized for missions in dense urban areas, including inside buildings. Such a weapon would be well suited for entering the residence of a high-value target and detonating.
I've heard reports about the IDF using small drones but I believe this might be the first documentation of a drone used by Israeli security forces to scout a position in the West Bank (likely Nablus) and then appears to detonate when it enters a building. pic.twitter.com/sJfA0h6199
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) February 14, 2023
Israel's long-range one-way attack drones, another class of weapon they pioneered, could also be used for these kind of highly-targeted attacks.
Israel has a history of using extraordinary covert methods for killing enemies in the beginning phases of an operation. Days before launching strikes against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants of Lebanon in September 2024, Israel carried out an audacious operation using thousands of exploding pagers and radios to target Hezbollah members. The blasts killed about 30 people and wounded more than 3,000.
Footage of communication pagers worn by Hezbollah members exploding across Lebanon.Unprecedented incident. https://t.co/gf37usZrxC pic.twitter.com/5VNZKzxEbi
— Faytuks News (@Faytuks) September 17, 2024
In another example of how Israel was able to strike at its foes behind the lines in a Tehran ground operation, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was reportedly assassinated in late July 2024 by a bomb smuggled into the guesthouse where he was staying in the Iranian capital, according to The New York Times.
Given Israel's penchant for secrecy, especially during this conflict, it may be some time before we know what killed the scientists. This is especially true if the same methods are still being used.
Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com
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