Israel confirms killing nine Iranian nuclear scientists: "It's a heavy blow."

The Israeli government justifies the bombing of Iran by claiming that the Iranian regime was advancing a secret plan to develop a nuclear bomb, according to intelligence gathered by its services.

The Israeli military confirmed this Saturday the deaths and the identities of at least nine senior scientists and experts in the Iranian nuclear project in its ongoing airstrikes against the Persian nation.

"During the Army's attacks at the start of Operation 'Rise of the Lion,' nine high-ranking scientists and experts who promoted the Iranian regime's nuclear weapons program were eliminated, " the military statement said, adding the names of the scientists and experts.

On Friday, Israeli forces had already announced the deaths of six of these nuclear scientists , including Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi and Fereydoun Abbasi .

In the statement, Israel asserts that these attacks were made possible "thanks to accurate intelligence information" and that all the dead experts "had decades of accumulated experience in nuclear weapons development ."

"The individuals eliminated played a pivotal role in the drive toward nuclear weapons. Their elimination represents a severe blow to the Iranian regime's ability to acquire weapons of mass destruction," the statement added.

The Israeli government has justified these bombings against Iran, which continued this Saturday , by claiming that the Iranian regime, according to its intelligence, was advancing a secret plan to develop a nuclear bomb in recent months.

Shortly before the Israeli statement was released, Iran announced the deaths of three more nuclear scientists in the Israeli attacks, bringing the number of nuclear program experts killed in recent days to nine.

" Ali Bakaei Karimi, Mansour Asgari, and Saeed Borji , three nuclear scientists, were killed in the Zionist regime's terrorist attacks," reported the Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Among those killed in the Israeli attacks are at least eight senior military officials , including the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General Mohamed Hosein Baqeri ; the commander-in-chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Hossein Salami ; and the head of the Guard's Aerospace Force, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh , among others.

Iran responded Friday night with at least three missile attacks on Tel Aviv, killing three people and wounding some 38 , according to the Jewish state's press.